Spirits of Vengeance
by CorvoKuro
Summary: "When Beacon fell, so many people died and remain unavenged. One of their names was Pyrrha Nikos, my partner, my friend. Her murderer is still out there wanting to do the same to all of the kingdoms. I won't allow it and I'm not alone. With a spirit named Eli Morrow and my allies, we will get vengeance for Pyrrha, for Beacon, for everyone. I am Jaune Arc and I am the Ghost Rider."
1. Seeking Vengeance

Spirits of Vengeance

(AN: I love Jaune Arc as a character and just love Robbie Reyes on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Then after watching Volume 4 I saw that Jaune now has a drive for vengeance. So I decided to mix it up and realized what I could do with this. A few months later and here we are. Now that's out of the way, let's rock!)

Disclaimer: Do I look like the owner of Rooster Teeth or Marvel?

Chapter 1: Seeking Vengeance

 _Vengeance - (noun) punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong._

(Mistral Streets) (Night)

Two White Fang trucks were speeding down the streets, hoping to escape their pursuer.

"No one said that **HE** would be in the area!" The driver yelled to his passenger as he drove like a bat out of hell. He could hear his other partner crying to himself in the backseat, praying to god.

"Last I heard, he was operating on the other side of the kingdom!" His passenger said.

"You're so wrong you dumb fu-" The roar of a demonic engine roared behind the cars and literally everyone pissed themselves.

"I'm so sorry." Was all the guy in the backseat repeated as they knew that they were all screwed.

The passenger look out the window and behind them and saw a black 1969 charger chasing after them. Only difference from a normal car was that fire was being expelled through the blower and the wheels were aflame, leaving a trail of fire behind them.

He saw the face of the driver and was greeted with a roar of a monster.

*BANG*

The driver turned to see that the guy in the back seat shot himself to escape his fate. "Coward." The driver said.

He heard the crunch of metal and the scream of his fellow members. He knew the truck to his right was gone and everyone inside was dead. When **HE** is involved, death is an absolute.

The passenger took a peak out the window again and yelled "HE'S GONE!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT HE'S GONE?! WHERE THE FUCK COULD HE HAVE GONE?!" The driver screamed in panic.

He felt fear creep up his spine and looked out the window to his left and saw the charger from hell itself right beside him, with the driver itself standing on top of the roof of the car as it drove itself.

The monster was a masculine figure in a black racer suit with a white rectangular logo emblazoned on the chest as it stood there. Its head looked like a skull helmet that also worked as a face along with having a large open indent in the forehead. In the black eyeholes, orange embers were lit up, causing fire to pour out of the sides of his mouth, his eyes, and out of the indent.

In its hands was two short swords attached onto both ends of chain by the pommel.

" **RUUUOOOOAHHHHHGHHH!"** It roared like a beast straight from Hell itself.

The driver prayed to god.

The monster chucked one short sword into the window of the truck, missing the driver, but impaling its way through the neck of his passenger, killing him and leaving a spray of blood onto the seat of the truck.

The sword changed into a crowbar and the monster yanked on the chain, pulling the dead man's body through the window and whizzing past the only living White Fang member in the truck.

The monster look at the body before changing the crowbar back into a short sword and pulling it out of the dead man's neck. He brought up his right hand and fire engulfed it. The monster slapped it onto the dead body and it instantly incinerated, turning the carcass into ash that blew away in the winds.

"WHY?!" The driver screamed.

The monster didn't respond, it phased through the roof of its car and zoomed in front of the truck and hit the brakes. The truck crashed into The Hell Charger, which caused the truck to crash but didn't it even budge The Hell Charger.

The White Fang member quickly got out of his truck with a double-barreled shotgun in his hands. His hands were shaking, but he still pointed it at The Hell Charger.

He heard a car door open and then close. The monster walked around the car and stood in front of his soon-to-be victim.

He fired a shot at the monster, but the pellets only bounced off of him. The monster just stood there. The driver took another shot only for the same outcome.

He threw his shotgun onto the ground and screamed "WHAT HAVE I DONE TO HAVE THE GHOST RIDER TO COME AFTER ME?!"

The Ghost Rider then said **"You are guilty of the murder of seven people and the crippling of a young boy."**

"I was under orders! What else was I supposed to do?" The Fang member was lifted by his throat single-handedly by The Ghost Rider.

The Ghost Rider looked straight into his eyes and asked **"Where is Adam Taurus?"**

"Belle Street, Belle Street for the love of god! He'll be there tomorrow! I just want to live!" The sack of shit that was a high-ranking member of The White Fang was now a blubbering mess of tears.

" **Your actions have consequences. I'm just delivering your punishment."** The Ghost Rider said.

A circle of fire formed under the fang member. Chains wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso. Spikes erupted from the edges and trapped the Faunus in them as a cage.

" **Eternal Damnation."** The Ghost Rider said. He let go of The Fang member and he was dragged to Hell screaming. The spikes and circle of fire disappeared into nothing.

The Rider jumped into his car and drove off, planning out his next course of action.

As he did so, he look at himself in the rearview mirror and thought of what he has become.

' _ **You okay, kiddo?'**_ A voice asked in his head.

" **It's nothing, Eli."** The Rider said.

' _ **Is it about Taurus? We are so close to getting him'**_ Eli said.

" **For once, I'm not focused on taking him down. I just… never thought that I would end up like this."** The Ghost Rider said.

' _ **It may not be the most savory job, but it's our responsibility. We're using the tools at our disposal to dispense justice against the wicked and protecting the innocent."**_ Eli stated.

" **I'm happy with that, really, I just feel… alone. I may have you, but a second soul isn't exactly company."** The Rider said.

' _ **I know. But we don't have anyone who could help us. The only guys who are useful are back in Vale and communications are still out over there.'**_

As Eli mentioned Vale, The Rider couldn't help but to think of his life choices so far.

He remembered his nice childhood, entering Beacon as a fraud, befriending RWBY, becoming JNPR's leader, the late-night training with his best friend, the Vytal Festival Tournament, and everything going to hell.

That damn tournament is where it all happened. People got hurt, Grimm ran wild, the machines were hacked, White Fang attacked, that Amber girl was killed, Blake was stabbed, Yang lost an arm, Ozpin disappeared, the dragon showing up, and hearing about the soul-crushing news that… Pyrrha Nikos was murdered.

He lost it after that, he heard from Ruby that the bitch who caused everything was named Cinder Fall and that she claimed to be from Haven Academy. Professor Goodwitch told him that part after meeting up with her when the chaos settled down.

It was a blur after that as in his rage, he found a random bike that happened to belong to Yang (he realized that part after arriving in Mistral), looted an abandoned dust store to keep the bike fueled, and drove off to Mistral without having a plan in mind. He realized that part when he was halfway there and lost his armor with hoodie. He loved that hoodie for goodness sake, he sent in fifty box tops for it!

For the latter half of the trip he went over the facts and thought about a plan.

Simple version: kill Cinder Fall. She was the mastermind and commanding force. She would probably be in Mistral with her accomplices Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.

In hindsight, it was a shitty and undeveloped plan.

But he was thankful that he went through with it, otherwise he wouldn't be where he was today.

' _ **Jaune. Do you remember when you became The Rider?'**_ Eli asked out of the blue.

" **Of course, it's kinda hard to forget the day I died."** The Ghost Rider said as he remembered the day before he became The Rider, the last day he could say that he was normal.

(One Month Ago)

(Mistral) (8:00 AM)

Jaune Arc woke up and stepped out of bed, he silently slunk to the kitchen of his tiny one-bedroom apartment.

He poured himself a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's cereal, walked over to the couch, and turned on the TV.

"I'm Lisa Lavender and joining us for an interview is none other than Beacon's ex-combat teacher, Glynda Goodwitch." The reporter on the television said.

Jaune leaned forward as he ate, curious as to what was going on over there since he left.

"Ms. Goodwitch, it's been six months since Beacon and Vale were overtaken. Have you or any of your colleagues made any advancement to the reclamation of Vale?" Lisa asked.

"Sadly, no. We have wiped out half of the Grimm at this point, but we are having trouble getting help in exterminating the rest." Glynda said as the camera cut to her.

Jaune was surprised that such progress was made. "Figured it'd take longer." He said to himself.

"Are there any lead of the identity of the hacker who disrupted the systems of the Vytal festival or turned the Atlas AK-200's onto the people of Vale?" Lisa asked.

"We do have a lead… but we cannot find them or release their identity yet. Communications in Vale are still down because of the Grimm presence and we need them gone to repair the system."

"True, we are having to pre-record this interview because of that. Is there an ETA on the reclamation and repairs?" Lisa asked.

"About three to five months. It depends on how assistance can get to Vale and finish the job." Glynda stated.

"What about identifying the fallen? I heard from a birdy that among them is Pyr-"The TV was shutoff as Jaune stood up to put his bowl in the sink and walked back to his room to get ready for work.

Half an hour later and Jaune was dressed in his garage.

Jaune was dressed in worn jeans, black boots, a white t-shirt with an emblem of two yellow crescent moons on it, a black leather jacket, and black fingerless gloves.

"Just another day, Jaune." He muttered to himself.

Jaune looked over and saw a yellow and black motorcycle parked next to a black '69 charger.

"I really got to figure out how to send her bike back." Jaune said as he entered his car, used the garage remote in the glove compartment, and drove off to work after closing the garage when he left.

Back when he arrived in Mistral and decided that he needed shelter and money, Jaune found Canelo's Body Shop after cruising around for a place to stay.

Canelo is a jovial Faunus in his early fifties. He was portly and tan with moose horns on his head. He kept himself clean-shaven and was always clad in his jumpsuit from the body shop that he opened twenty years ago.

Business was good and Canelo recognized Jaune as he saw him on the broadcast for the Vytal Tournament and found the boy hilarious. Jaune told him his plight and Canelo gave him a job as a mechanic and had a friend lease Jaune a small apartment.

He taught Jaune how to be a mechanic and the boy blew his expectations and ended up as Canelo's go-to guy for the more expensive repairs.

Coming back from memory lane, Jaune pulled into Canelo's and parked The Charger out back with the other employee cars.

Jaune entered through the employee entrance out back, walked over to his locker, threw in his jacket, slipped his jumpsuit on, grabbed his toolset and walked into the main area.

"Hey boss!" Jaune called out.

"Hey Jaune." Many other employees called out to the boy.

"Over here, boyo!" Canelo called out from under a pickup truck.

Jaune strolled over and asked "Engine?"

"Meh, just need to replace the belt plus give her an oil change and she's as good as gold." Canelo said. "How's Lucy?"

"Great. Got around to finally fixing the radio." Jaune said as he got a can of oil and prepped the change.

"Speakers?" Canelo asked.

"Good. I replaced them first and then the old radio broke, remember?" Jaune reminded his boss.

"Right. I forget that even though you've been here for five months, you picked up this stuff like a crane." Canelo commented as he got out from the underneath.

"Yeah. I'm just surprised that four months later and the car is all set." Jaune commented as he grabbed a funnel.

"I remember gifting her to you, she was in horrible shape. Truly horrendous." Canelo said.

"She just needed some love and care." Jaune said.

"And a new coat of paint." Canelo pointed out.

"And a new coat of paint." Jaune repeated as he drained out the old oil, set up the new oil filter, and inserted the funnel and poured the new oil into the engine.

He finished up and Canelo asked "You want to do the belt? I got some paperwork to take care of."

"Sure thing boss, it'll be done before lunch." Jaune assured.

"That's my boy." Canelo said as he rustled Jaune's hair and headed into his office.

Jaune chuckled at the old man's actions and got working.

(Jaune's Apartment) (6:00 PM)

Jaune was on his couch and using his scroll to find something that he needed. The TV was on and it was just the news channel going through some stories that held no concern to Jaune as it was just background noise.

"Found it!" Jaune exclaimed.

Alias Investigations is the name that came up in his search.

He found the number and dialed it. A few rings later the line picked up. _"Alias Investigations, Jessica Jones speaking. What do you want?"_

"I'm-uh looking for someone." Jaune said, a bit nervous.

" _How old are you?"_ Jessica asked.

"Eighteen ma'am!" Jaune replied.

" _Hmm… look kid, I don't want my time to be wasted. I expect payment, my business isn't a charity."_ Jessica stated.

"I can cover whatever you charge." Jaune said, hoping that she wouldn't hang up.

" _Alright. What's this person's name?"_

"Cinder Fall. If you can't find her, she also associates herself with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai." Jaune told the PI.

" _Got a picture?"_ Jessica asked.

"Yeah. I'll email it to you right now." Jaune said as he sent the pic of the three of them from team picture day. It was only the picture of three of them, but Jaune was lucky to have accidentally download the whole set of team pictures when he meant to only download JNPR's from picture day.

He sent it to Jessica and she said _"I can work with this."_

"Really? Thank you!" Jaune said with joy.

" _One thing though: why are you looking for them?"_ Jessica asked.

"They… they ruined so many lives. Vengeance needs to be served." Jaune stated.

" _Alright. I'll call when I got something."_ Jessica said.

"Thank you Ms. Jones, have a good night." Jaune said.

" _You to, kid."_ Jessica said before hanging up.

Jaune leaned back in his chair in relief. He was so close to ending this.

He looked up and muttered. "I'll get them, Pyrrha. I swear."

His scroll rang and Jaune saw that he got a message from a guy he knew.

"Another race?" Jaune asked. He thought about it for a minute before saying "I could always use the extra lien."

Jaune grabbed his keys and grabbed his helmet from the closet and drove off into the night for another night of street-racing.


	2. A Good Samaritan Named Eli Morrow

Spirits Of Vengeance

(Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Ghost Rider)

Chapter 2: A Good Samaritan Named Eli Morrow

(Canelo's Garage) (The Next Day, Still Mid-Flashback)

Jaune was finishing up on replacing the brakes of an old truck when his scroll went off. He brought it out and saw the caller ID: Jessica Jones.

He answered the call. "Hey Ms. Jones."

" _Don't call me that, kid. I got something for you. Come to my office ASAP."_ Jessica told him.

"On my way." Jaune said as he clocked out, changed into his outfit with jacket open, and drove off.

As he cruised down the road, Jaune noticed the White Fang members, decked all out with masks and weapons, hanging around the streets as he passed by. In Vale they were an underground group, but here in Mistral they are the gang that rule the streets. They don't attack humans in broad daylight, but if you're caught after midnight… you'd be listed in the obituaries by the morning paper. Unless you can protect yourself, that is.

Jaune just kept his head down as he went on his way.

(Alias Investigations)

Jaune knocked on the office door with the name of the business on it and heard "It's open!" from the other side.

He walked in and saw Jessica lived in a small apartment, with multiple empty bottles of whiskey on the ground.

He walks through the apartment and saw her sitting at a desk with a chair in front for clients.

"Sit." She ordered.

Jaune complied and asked "Did you find something?"

Jessica sighed "Yeah, but for all I know it could be a dead end."

"Ms. Jones, please." Jaune begged.

Jessica looked at him dead in the eyes and sighed. "I rung up one of my old buddies who's close to The White Fang. They told him that some associate of Adam Taurus is coming to the docks tonight. No reason why, but they said it's the 'hot chick with amber eyes'."

Jaune immediately got up and walked to the door.

"HEY!? Where are you going?" Jessica called out.

He threw an envelope at her which she easily caught and said "Thanks. You did your part… time I did mine."

He zipped his jacket and ran out front.

Jessica opened the envelope and saw that about ten grand in lien was given to her.

She heard the roar of a car engine and looked out the window to see Jaune speeding off as the sun set. Before she could chase after him, she got a call and picked it up. "What?" She said harshly to person on the line, losing her train of thought on the boy.

(An Hour Later)

The sun was down and Jaune was staking out the docks from a safe distance in his car with a set of binoculars. Multiple warehouses dotted the area, the perfect meet up place for something like this.

He heard a Bullhead fly in from over the water and land by a warehouse. A few White Fang members ran out from the warehouse as the Bullhead opened up.

Three figures walked out. Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, and Cinder Fall herself.

She looked different with a new dress and most noticeably: an eyepatch over her missing left eye with visible scarring around the mask edges.

Jaune gripped the binoculars to the point that the plastic cracked. He calmed himself a second after and continued to survey the area.

The group entered the warehouse and Jaune exited his car, Crocea Mors in hand and his shield equipped.

He went around the back of the warehouse and peeked through a window to see the Fang members showing Cinder newly stolen Dust. Many rows of towering crates were in the warehouse, neatly organized. She smiled at the dust as he gritted his teeth.

His plan was simple: cut the power, sneak in, take down any guards in his path without raising an alarm, and stab Cinder in the neck before he was caught. It was simple and not so sweet, but it was the best he could come up with as he only had an hour to come up with a plan.

He didn't care if he was killed as long as she died.

Jaune counted eight people: two guards out front, three inside, along with Cinder's group of three.

He found the power line and cut it, killing the lights inside the warehouse.

"What the hell?" He head Emerald ask.

"Someone didn't pay their bills." Mercury said.

Cinder remained quiet.

Jaune sneaked around the front as the guards out front chatted to each other: oblivious as to what happened to the warehouse as the doors were shut.

Jaune threw a rock a fair distance in front of them, causing them to become alert as they approached the noise. One took lead in front as his buddy trailed behind. Both with rifles in hand.

Jaune snuck up behind the lagging member and grabbed him in a chokehold and quickly stabbed his sword through the side of his head.

This wasn't the first time he killed a White Fang member as he had to defend himself a couple of times after late night racing. Each time he killed the attacking White Fang member in the end. Jaune barfed the first time, but after the eighth time he simply didn't care anymore.

Jaune set down the body softly to not have the other member notice. He trailed behind until the Fang member stopped and said "It was probably nothing."

As the Fang member started turning around, Jaune quickly decapitated him before he knew it.

The head fell to the ground and Jaune ran back to the warehouse doors and entered, closing the door behind him.

Jaune saw a light on the other side of the warehouse in the open area and so he snuck behind crates and got closer to the light source. He couldn't make out the source, but he had a feeling it was his target.

He snuck around and was close enough the light source without being seen. He look towards it and saw a quick flash of red. He felt a little disoriented but Jaune shook the cobwebs out of his head and looked again and saw Cinder Fall with her back turned to him, alone holding a small flame to give her light.

Jaune felt a mix of being giddy and nervous. Here was his goal, the target of his vengeance was just ahead of him and he had the perfect opportunity to end it all. To avenge Pyrrha.

He raised his sword and walked lightly to her. She had not noticed him as she still had her back turned. Acting quickly he pulled his sword arm back as he got closer. When he was a few feet away, Jaune stabbed Cinder through the back of her neck. She grunted in pain, but couldn't scream for help.

Jaune pulled his sword out of her neck and she crumpled to the ground, with blood pooling around her.

He felt pure joy and satisfaction, Jaune fell to his knees and let his weapons fall to the ground before his joy reached a boiling point and yelled out at the top of his lung "YAHOOOOOOOO!" He started laughing to himself as he was done. He could move on, knowing that Cinder was the mastermind behind Beacon's fall and her death meaning that she wouldn't have a chance to do it again here in Mistral.

He looked back at her corpse but his heart stopped when he saw it flicker out of existence.

"You're a moron." He heard Mercury say.

Jaune looked up and saw Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder standing in front of him with the three remaining White Fang members, their rifles pointed at him.

"How?" Jaune asked.

Emerald smirked "Someone didn't do their homework."

Cinder tapped Mercury' shoulder and the boy said "Got it."

Mercury jumped to Jaune and Jaune only saw a roundhouse kick coming to his face before his world went black.

(Time skip)

Jaune woke up groggily and he noticed his arms were restrained. He opened his eyes and noticed he was outside the warehouse, his arms chained and he was on his knees in front of his car.

He struggled against the chains, but they wouldn't give.

"You have to be retarded, right?" Mercury asked. "That's solid steel. Unless you're secretly a bear Faunus or something, you ain't breaking them."

Jaune looked ahead and saw them standing under the moon's glow.

"Let me go!" Jaune yelled in rage.

Cinder waved a finger and whispered into Emerald's ear. Jaune noted that his sword and shield were sheathed on Emerald's belt as a souvenir.

"You came here trying to kill Cinder without a plan, backup, or even a gun. Did you really expect to succeed?" Emerald asked.

Jaune bit his tongue to remain quiet.

Cinder glared and approached him. She stopped about a foot away from him and leaned down to his face. Jaune glared into her eyes and she simply backhanded him in the face, sending Jaune face first into the ground.

Jaune groaned as Cinder pulled him back up to his knees before walking away.

She held a hand up when she was back with her cronies and the White Fang members. The three fang members aimed their rifles at Jaune and waited for the cue.

Jaune panicked in his head. He was the target of an execution squad! He tried to come up with a plan of escape, but every idea he came up with would still get him killed.

As Jaune thought of his eighth plan, Cinder dropped her hand and bullets rained. They ripped through his body at such a fast rate that Jaune could only feel pain to the point that his voice clammed up, preventing him from screaming in pain.

Jaune's nearly dead body crumpled to the ground as the execution squad finished. Blood poured from his wounds and Jaune knew this was his own end.

With a little life left within him, Jaune saw Cinder summon her bow and nocked a lone arrow. She muttered something to herself before releasing the arrow, but Jaune knew what she said.

"Say hi to Pyrrha for me."

'Please God, I don't want to die. I need to get vengeance for Beacon, I need to get vengeance for my friends, and I need to get vengeance for Pyrrha! I'll give anything, ANYTHING! Let me live so that I can kill Cinder Fall!' Jaune begged in his head as he felt time slow.

The arrow flew through the air and found its target in Jaune's forehead.

Jaune felt his soul leave his body as the world went black once again.

(Purgatory)

He felt like he was falling in a void for a few minutes.

'I just died.' Was all he could fathom.

Jaune felt like his life was a waste.

He was a screw-up that was destined to die in the most pitiful way, without a fighting chance to survive.

He died as he lived, a failure.

He failed Pyrrha and everyone else.

He felt that his punishment was deserving.

Jaune felt nothing but disgust for himself, he had a chance to avenge so many live and he just fucked it all up.

He was pissed that Cinder Fall still lived.

He was pissed that she mocked Pyrrha in his final moment.

But most importantly, he was pissed that she fucking killed him.

He felt a drive from this rage that he never felt before. He wanted to not just end Cinder, but also her underlings, her friends, and her goons the White Fang.

He wanted pure unadulterated vengeance.

" _ **Want to make a deal with the devil?"**_ A voice in the darkness asked.

"What?" Jaune replied.

" _ **Do you want to make a deal with me, plain and simple?"**_ The voice replied.

Jaune was dumbfounded, he was dead and was talking to a voice without a body. "Yup, I've gone crazy."

" _ **Not yet, kiddo."**_ The voice said.

"Okay. So… do you have a name?" Jaune asked.

" _ **Elias Morrow, at your service. Call me Eli."**_ He said.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jaune Arc. What brings you here, exactly?" Jaune asked.

" _ **Same as you. Murdered by Cinder Fall and her lackeys."**_ Eli said.

"W-What? When?" Jaune asked.

" _ **I don't know, a year or two I guess."**_ Eli remarked.

"Birds of a feather flock together, I guess." Jaune chuckled.

" _ **Heh-heh… yeah. I've been here for a long time and I know we can help each other out of here."**_ Eli said.

"How? We're dead." Jaune asked.

" _ **Before I died, I studied rituals and such to ensure that I would gain power and live on. Immortality by another name. But I found something close enough, but I didn't read the fine print and when I died I became a spirit of vengeance, to a degree. That's great and all, but without a host body, I'm really just a ghost living in my old charger."**_ Eli said.

"That was your car?" Jaune asked.

" _ **My job paid great, I bought Lucy when she was brand new with all of the upgrades."**_ Eli said.

"Damn. Would've loved to see back then." Jaune said.

" _ **You fixed her up real good. I thank you for that and I thought to myself 'Here's a good kid with conviction, but he's weak. I'm an all-powerful spirit, but I'm one who needs a host.' Do the math and here we are."**_ Eli said.

Jaune pondered before asking "What would happen if I agreed?"

He knew Eli smiled like a man who won the lottery. _**"You'd be resurrected, stronger and deadlier. We'd be a force of nature, as one of the devil's bounty hunters. Powerful as an inferno, searching for wicked souls to send to hell. It's a good gig."**_

Jaune was just blown away, here was his chance to take down Cinder!

But before he could say anything else, bright light glowed on his left and Eli said _**"Crap… I thought we had more time to talk."**_

Jaune turned and saw a pathway of light appear in front of him that led to an open gate. There stood a figure whose form was hard to see from the light, but Jaune could make out unmistakable red hair in a ponytail.

" _ **You have two choices: one, take my deal and come back to life, or two, pass on to heaven. Your choice. Just be sure of your decision because both are non-refundable."**_ Eli said.

Jaune could see Pyrrha smiling at him, waiting for him to approach the gate. He was tempted to just run up to her, but a wave of guilt washed over Jaune and he realized that he couldn't face her now. He had a mission to do.

Jaune turned away from her and to the void.

"Elias Morrow, I accept." He said aloud with confidence.

The gates of heaven closed to him and Jaune knew that Pyrrha wouldn't approve. But he needed to finish the job.

" _ **You made the right choice, Jaune Arc."**_ Eli stated.

A black and gold mass approached Jaune from the void. _**"You ready for this?"**_ The mass that was Eli asked.

"I turned my back to heaven, let's just hurry this up before I regret it." Jaune said.

The mass tunneled into Jaune's chest and he felt his soul and Eli's intertwine.

(Mistral Warehouse District)

Cinder loved the look on his face when he died. It was of pure horror and pure regret. With the light in his eyes gone, she knew that he was gone.

She lit Jaune's body on fire as she had Mercury bring a car around to take her, him, and Emerald to their new base. He went along with one of the White Fang members so he could do the same.

They came back with one car each for both groups: a truck for the White Fang and sports car for Cinder's group, with a White Fang chauffeur. The criminals made their escape as they knew that there would be no trouble as they could carry on with making their plans for Mistral.

As they drove off, Cinder had a sudden feeling in her gut that she just made one of the worst decisions in her life, but she waved it off and carried on, leaving behind Jaune's corpse and his car.

But when the corpse was alone, with fire eating away at the body, was when all hell broke loose.

The fire suddenly accelerated and engulfed the body of Jaune Arc. The blazing body of Jaune suddenly shot up and the chains fell off of him and landed by his feet as he stood up.

The blazing body hunch over in pain and leaned on the car for balance as the transformation continued.

When the fire died out, there stood a figure in a black racer suit with a white rectangular logo emblazoned on the chest. Its head looked like a skull helmet that also worked as a face along with having a large open indent in the forehead. In the black eyeholes, orange embers lit up, causing fire to pour out of the sides of his mouth, his eyes, and out of the indent.

" **RUUUOOOOAHHHHHGHHH!"** Roared the figure like a monster.

' _ **What do you think, Jaune?'**_ Eli asked in his head.

Jaune looked at his hands and ran to the car's rearview mirror to see what he has transformed into. He was intrigued to see himself as a flaming skeleton monster.

" **What *gulp*… what exactly are we, Eli?"** Jaune asked.

Eli simply asked ' _ **Ever heard of The Ghost Rider?'**_

Jaune shook his head.

' _ **The Ghost Rider is a monster of a man. One who seeks vengeance for himself and for others, sending the souls of the wicked to hell. Day by day they travel to where they are needed to take care of business when the sun sets. This is what our deal entailed. What do you think?'**_ Eli asked.

Jaune took a minute to look over at himself and exclaimed **"I feel like I can take on an army!"**

' _ **You can do that and so much more. But enough chit-chat, Cinder didn't leave too long ago. We can catch her if we hurry.'**_ Eli told him.

" **Well, they did leave the car."** Jaune suggested as he picked up the chains that held him and threw them into the back seat.

' _ **Smart boy.'**_ Eli remarked.

Jaune jumped into the charger and started the engine. Fire erupted from the blower, the wheels were set ablaze, and all dents and scratches were erased like the charger was brand new.

" **Let's not keep them waiting."** Jaune remarked before he floored the pedal to chase after Cinder.


	3. The Hell Charger

Spirits Of Vengeance

(Disclaimer: I wouldn't be here if I owned Rooster Teeth or Marvel)

Chapter 3: The Hell Charger

(Tail End of the Flashback)

A pickup truck filled with five armed White Fang members drove along in an empty high-rise highway behind a sports car with another White Fang member driving Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai.

Feeling high off of killing Jaune Arc, Cinder sat peacefully with her eyes closed as they drove off to the airport as their job was complete and they had to go back to Salem for a status report.

Emerald was just bored and watching the passing lights from the window as the car continued on its merry way.

Mercury, on the other hand, had an off-feeling since he brought Arc's car to the firing squad. It felt old, but nostalgic for him. It sickened him to think of his past, with all he's done. That car wasn't normal, he knew. He just couldn't place his finger on it.

Put he lost his train of thought, as did Emerald as they heard the roar of a muscle car. Cinder's underlings turned around and looked through the back window to see something on fire approaching them from far away, catching up to them at high speeds.

"Boss, we got incoming!" Mercury told Cinder, who was not amused with her moment of peace being shattered.

She turned around to see what they saw, she simply quirked an eyebrow to the sight.

The White Fang driver used one hand to call the truck behind them through a headset with his other hand on the wheel. "Guys, you got a bogey on your tail. Take care of it."

The two White Fang members in the pickup truck that lagged behind the sports car took notice of the thing on fire trailing behind them. The Fang in the passenger seat leaned out of the truck and aimed a rifle at it but stopped when he noticed it was a car, a black charger. A black charger that that looked exactly like the car that they killed the blonde guy next to.

The difference was that the car was undamaged and the wheels were on fire with fire coming out of the blower.

"It's that car from earlier, didn't we wreck it when we killed that guy?" He spoke into his headset.

"Affirmative." Said the driver of the sports car.

"Who's driving it?" Asked the driver of the pickup truck.

The Fang looked down the sights of the rifle and aimed at the driver, but he stopped when he realized what was driving the car. "I… I must be hallucinating."

"What do you mean, it's just some guy." The driver of the pickup truck.

"No it's… a skeleton in a driving suit with its head on fire." The Fang with the rifle said bewildered as he slid back into his seat.

"What? Are you high?" The pickup truck driver asked.

The Hell Charger instantly sped up and collided with the back of the truck causing the White Fang members to yell in surprise. The cars kept on driving at high speeds, with the sports car far ahead.

This crashing got the attention of the sports car, specifically Cinder.

The Ghost Rider focused on his target ahead of him. **"Okay, the car is indestructible. That's good to know."**

' _ **Not only that, we're one and the same with the car. Try phasing through the roof, grab the chains on your way out, I'll keep the car going.'**_ Eli told The Rider.

The Ghost Rider nodded and turned to the backseat, grabbed the chains, and phased through the roof of car and standing on top of it with his knees bent in a fighting with both ends in his hands to let the chains droop in front of him.

The chain then ignited into a small flume of flames, dying down to reveal two short swords connected by the chain. _**'The weapon of choice for a Ghost Rider is the chain, so you aren't without a weapon.'**_ Eli told Jaune.

" **Hell yeah."** The Rider said as he threw one of his swords into the roof of the pickup truck in front of him, piercing through the roof and right through the floor.

' _ **The chain follows your commands. Transform the short-swords on the ends of it.'**_ Eli suggested.

After willing it to do so, the short sword in his hand and the short sword in the truck transformed into crowbars. The Rider, with an inhuman amount of strength, yanked on the chain throwing the truck behind his own car roof-first, effectively killing the Fang members in the truck as it crashed into the pavement like a meteor.

As the truck wreckage dragged behind his car, The Ghost Rider turned his sights onto the sports car as Cinder Fall leaned through the window to see their attacker.

She had no visible change in emotion, but the Rider's fire from his skull grew in proportion to his spiking rage. He then gripped the chains and steadied his stance as he threw the destroyed truck over himself and at Cinder's car.

But Cinder acted quickly and using her fall maiden powers, blasted the thrown truck into smithereens.

As Cinder did this, the driver of the sports car called for backup in the White Fang.

Emerald quickly leaned out of her window and drew her pistols out. Multiple round from each pistol was fired at The Rider, hitting his chin and forehead multiple times. But the bullets bounced off of his head and The Rider was very annoyed by her actions.

Changing tactics, Emerald activated her semblance as she stared directly into The Rider's eyes. But no connection occurred, and with that her semblance didn't activate as she realized what made The Rider immune.

His eyes were just burning embers.

The Rider glared, causing Emerald's heart to truly start racing. She ducked back into the car and told her allies in a meek tone as her face was pale and stiff "He's not human."

Mercury was alarmed at this point and asked the driver "Where the hell is our backup?!"

"Give them a second." The driver responded.

From down the road, the retreating criminals saw that two white SUVs were speeding down the road.

The SUVs drops behind Cinder's car, speeding towards The Rider, who phased through the car and was seated back in the driver's seat.

One SUV stops in The Rider's path, the driver shifts the gear into reverse, and floors it as the other SUV drops behind The Rider's car, drifts in a 180 degree turn, and floors it also. The SUVs covered The Hell Charger's front and rear as they adjusted their speed to collide with The Hell Charger, catching it in a hold, leading him off the lane and into a nearby exit.

" **Eli, got any ideas?"** The Ghost Rider asked as he didn't want to lose his targets.

' _ **We'll need to shake them off or something.'**_ Eli stated.

" **Shake them off? That's all you got?"** The Ghost Rider asked incredulously.

' _ **I usually spend a week prepping before a mission to cover all of my bases. Something you should do from here on out.'**_ Eli said.

" **You die one time and it gets held over your head not even an hour after."** The Rider mumbled.

' _ **And you can't do shit about it.'**_ Eli taunted.

" **I could ignore you."** The Ghost Rider countered.

' _ **One, I'm in your head, good luck with that. And two, how about not ignoring the guys who're steering the car away from our murderers?"**_ Eli suggested.

The Rider looked back at the SUVs in front and behind him. Looking over the blower that was spewing fire gave him an idea.

The Ghost Rider willed the blower in the front and exhaust pipe system in the back to act as white-hot flamethrowers, not even a moment after he could hear screaming from the White Fang thugs as both SUVs they were in melted with them following suit.

' _ **Fuckin' brutal.'**_ Eli commented.

" **It solves one problem, now onto the next. The next entrance to the highway won't be for a while. Can this thing climb walls or something?"** The Rider asked.

' _ **I dunno.'**_ Eli said.

" **The hell do you mean by that?! You're the one teaching me all of this!"** The Ghost Rider yelled.

' _ **Most of it is instinct and that's it. We need to experiment with this more!'**_ Eli told his host.

The Ghost Rider sighed in annoyance. **"This is just peachy. I wish this car could teleport us back onto the highway."**

And like magic (demonic magic to be exact) a circular portal made of fire appeared in front of the car as it zoomed down the road. As the car went through it, The Ghost Rider found himself back on the highway, seeing Cinder's sports car half a mile down the road.

' _ **The fuck?! We can teleport this thing?!'**_ Eli exclaimed.

" **Shouldn't I be saying that?"** The Ghost Rider wondered.

' _ **You know what? Less talking, more driving!'**_ Eli said.

The Ghost Rider smirked. **"You read my mind."**

As the cars zoomed down the road, the sports car took an illegal U-turn, switched to the far lane to its right, and bolted down the exit.

The Ghost Rider and Spirit of Vengeance realized why they did so, the airport was only a couple blocks away. So The Ghost Rider released the gas pedal, swerved left and floored it, zooming into the barricade and crashing right through it without a dent in the car. As it flied through the air, The Rider saw that he was about to land on the road leading right into the airport runway gate that the sports car was drove through.

But then the car was blasted out of the sky with an enormous fire-ball, courtesy of Cinder Fall who was sitting on the window of the sports car.

As Cinder slid back into the sports car, Mercury asked "Is the pilot set for take-off?"

"Yeah, he's had the bullhead running since I called ahead. And he's got something that'll stop that son of a bitch for a bit." The White Fang driver assured his passengers.

The Hell Charger landed roof-first on the road. The Rider's response to his current state was **"Shit."**

' _ **One second.'**_ Eli said as a portal opened beneath the car, having it fall through with the portal closing right after. A new portal opened five meters above the road and The Hell Charger fell through it landing on its wheels.

" **Thanks Eli!"** The Rider said before jetting down the road once more, entering the airport runway.

But he was too late as the lone Bullhead was levitating a couple dozen meters off the ground, the doors open showing Cinder and company inside of the vehicle.

The Rider tried to get as close as he can, but then he saw Mercury step to the open doors of the bullhead and mount an RPG launcher on his shoulder.

" **Not again."** The Rider said as Mercury fired a rocket at The Hell Charger, exploding as it hit the ground in front of the car, launching the car high into the air.

Acting quickly, The Rider opened his car door and jumped out, summoning his chains into his hands as he was airborne. In the span of a second he chucked a short-sword at the open Bullhead, but Cinder pushed Mercury out of the way and deflected the short sword with something that pissed the Rider off to no end that Cinder had equipped on her left arm.

She used his own shield that was looted off of him along with Crocea Mors in her right hand.

The Ghost Rider couldn't catch himself as he fell back onto the ground, landing on the roof of his own car on his back.

The Rider rolled off to the front of the car and landed on his feet, looking up to see the Bullhead was too far up to catch as it was heading up to the clouds above for cover.

As they escaped The Rider screams to the heavens in pure rage **"VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE! YOU WILL ALL BURN IN HELL!"** He then begins to roar in rage like a monster as an inferno surrounds him as the fire from himself and The Hell Charger spewed forth, culminating in a tornado of fire that went up three stories.

But the Bullhead was long gone, with the passengers counting their blessings after the close escape.

After settling down, Emerald found her voice and asked her allies "What in Monty's name was that, that... monster!?"

"I don't think Monty would have created that monster." Mercury stated. He then thinks about the Rider and says "... That car of his was familiar."

Emerald realized his point and asked "Isn't it the one we totaled with Arc?"

"Yeah, but it's familiar... like I've seen it a long time ago. It kinda reminds me of my dear old dad's car." Mercury muttered, but Cinder and Emerald still heard him.

"You think that was Marcus Black's car?" Emerald asked.

"… Yeah, I think it is." Mercury said with confidence.

"Marcus Black, that name takes me back." The White Fang member piloting the Bullhead commented.

"You knew him?" Mercury asked.

"Yeah, I saw him work and stayed out of his way if he came for my current employer. Hell, pretty much everyone in this line of work stayed out of his way." The pilot said.

"Marcus Black… the Devil's scalpel." The driver of the sports car muttered in remembrance.

"Please, that hack wasn't a freakin' scalpel." Mercury said.

"It's a bad idea to speak ill of the dead." The pilot said. "Their spirits could end up haunting you, or so I've been told."

"If Marcus Black is alive-" Emerald started, but Mercury cut her off by stating "I killed Marcus Black and you saw his corpse, end of story!"

"Then why the hell did that monster have his damn car!" Emerald fired back.

Mercury had no answer.

"Arc." Cinder croaked out.

"We just killed him, he couldn't have just turned into a monster when we weren't looking." Mercury said.

But the Pilot interjected. "The universe works in mysterious ways, in this world of gods and monsters."

The Bullhead soon passed through the clouds, with no way to track them down.

As the fire tornado died down, The Ghost Rider was left on his knees defeated. His flames were out, leaving his skull bare as he berated himself in his head.

' _ **Kid… Jaune, you did all you could.'**_ Eli tried to reassure his host, but Jaune wasn't having any of it.

" **I could've killed her… BUT I HAD TO GO AND FUCK ALL OF IT UP AGAIN!"** The Rider screamed in rage as he collapsed, punching the asphalt and shattering it. As shards of asphalt flew, Eli stayed quiet as he knew Jaune wouldn't listen to him.

As The Rider kept destroying the ground with his fists, Eli's thoughts shifted to a new matter and after some deliberation, Eli knew what to say. _**'Yeah… we fucked it all up… but we literally just became The Ghost Rider an hour ago!'**_

This got The Rider's full attention as Eli continued. _**'We still have much to learn, kid! We know that we're tough as fuck, can control fire and the car, summon chains that can transform to your liking, and can teleport the car. That is just us scratching the surface! We still don't know everything we can do, we are children in the grand scheme of things. And a child can't make much in the way of change. But we can grow, develop, and master our abilities. We can stop Cinder, along with anyone else who dares to challenge us. We are The Ghost Rider, the devil calls upon us to take care of his work on Remnant, we are what the wicked fears in the dead of night in the dark corners of this world! WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!'**_

As Eli spoke, The Rider's head re-ignited and even as the fire started low, it grew in proportion with his spirits until it was blazing like a flamethrower as Eli said that last bit.

Eli finished simply with _**'Cinder can run only for so long. We'll get her, her lackeys, and her boss.'**_

The Rider stood up and nodded. **"You're right. God damn Eli, you're right! We'll find her, it's just a matter of when and not if. We'll win, it's what heroes do."**

Inside of Jaune's mind, Eli smirked with confidence. _**'That's what I like to hear. This line of work doesn't have room for quitters, only the strong-willed can succeed in this world.'**_

The Rider picked up his chains of the ground. Gripping them in his hands, he said to Eli **"We gotta find Cinder. But since we can't track her right now, we gotta start tracking down leads. She's got The White Fang wrapped around her finger, so we chase them down until we find someone with knowledge of where she is or what she'll do."**

' _ **Adam Taurus, he's The White Fang's top leader. While Sienna Khan is more of a leader in name only compared to Adam, but she's still influential. We go for them, we'll have our lead.'**_ Eli said.

The Rider smiled. **"Hell of a lot better than my original plan. But for now, let's head home and rest."**

' _ **The smart warrior knows when to press on and when to rest.'**_ Eli stated.

The Rider looked at his hands and asked **"How do I become… me again, I guess how you'd say it."**

' _ **All you have to do is ask, and I'll transform you back and forth.'**_ Eli said.

The Ghost Rider nodded and he was immediately covered in a bright blaze of orange fire. As he burned, the fires from the car died down until they were extinguished. Soon the blaze on The Rider died down, revealing Jaune Arc clad in the clothes he died in sans bullet holes as if they were good as new.

The same could be said for Jaune himself as he realized that he looked as he did from the morning, actually beyond that as Jaune noticed that he was without old scars and such. "Woah."

' _ **Come on, kiddo. Let's go.'**_ Eli said to Jaune, who immediately jumped into car and headed out.

As Jaune drove home, with his resolve invigorated, he remembered what Eli mentioned and asked "Cinder has a boss?"

(Flashback Complete)


	4. Belle Street

Spirits Of Vengeance

AN: Now that we're put of the Flashback arc, we can get into the real business. Here's where the plot thickens and ties more into volume 4 and 5. Along with that, we begin the Ally Arc. Now that's out of the way, let's rock!

(Disclaimer: I wouldn't be here if I owned Rooster Teeth or Marvel)

Chapter 4: Belle Street

(Unknown Location) (Sunset)

In a black and red throne room, a lone White Fang grunt walked slowly to the throne out of fear with a rolled up report grasped in his hand. On the throne sat a bright-eyed, dark-skinned tiger Faunus dressed in a black sleeveless long-flowing top, white pants, wooden sandals, and a red cape. This is the leader of The White Fang, Sienna Khan. And right now she was annoyed.

"Why the hell are you taking so long? I've gotten the status reports of all activity from every kingdom last week, except Mistral. It's finally here, but you're taking your sweet time. Care to explain why?" Sienna asked as she rested her head on her palm, giving the illusion that she was bored.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just… you'll see in the report. It arrived an hour ago." The grunt said as he sped up and finally handed Sienna the report.

"Can't be that bad, can it?" Sienna wondered to herself. She unrolled the report and the first line was the number of White Fang members in Mistral, which used to be around five thousand. Now it sat at "Two thousand?! What the hell caused it drop so much within a month?!" Sienna yelled.

She went to the next line which detailed how the number dropped. "About a thousand deserted, and the other who thousand… were slaughtered." Sienna turned to the Grunt and asked "Are these numbers accurate?"

The Grunt quickly nodded. "Yes ma'am. There is a file that should've been sent to your scroll by now that should show who-no… what, did this."

"What should I expect?" Sienna asked as she pulled out her scroll and found the file that the grunt was talking about that was sent to her private server.

As she opened it, the grunt replied with "A massacre."

The file was a security video, in color, of a White Fang assembly in an old warehouse filled with a couple hundred members in attendance, similar to the one in Vale a year ago. The difference was that it was meeting for current members, who were all on-edge. They acted like the devil was after their souls. It was dated to a week ago. Sienna noticed that there was sound to it and turned up the volume on her scroll.

On the stage, the lieutenant in charge walked up to the mic and said _"Settle down everyone, please. We need to get this underway."_

The crowd complied and settled down. _"Good to know that we can keep ourselves under control. The reason we are gathered her today should be obvious."_

Everyone in attendance nodded. _"We've lost many allies and friends, all because of one man. All he wants is to find Adam Taurus, and at this point… I want to give him what he wants."_

All in attendance were shocked at this proposal. _"We give up Adam Taurus, we live. That's the message that was sent to us. If Adam found out then he'd have my head. If we do this, then we can continue on with the cause. What's one man for over a thousand?"_

A beaver Faunus spoke up. _"But... wouldn't make us traitors?"_

" _Sienna would understand."_ The lieutenant stated.

" _But Adam's too important to give up!"_ A bass Faunus argued.

" _Do you really want to die because of a prick like Taurus?"_ The lieutenant asked. The bass Faunus simply backed off.

" _Excuse me? But do you know where Adam Taurus is?"_ A blonde male in the common uniform asked. He had no visible Faunus traits, Sienna noted from the video.

" _No. But we do have an elite squad incoming for backup. They're close to Adam, they'll for sure know his location."_ The lieutenant said.

" _When will they be here? Will they come to some other meeting spot?"_ The blonde member pressed.

" _They'll be coming right here in six days. We just need to keep this under wraps from Adam… and keep our heads low so 'you-know-who' doesn't come after us."_ The lieutenant replied.

" _Thanks for the heads-up… but The Ghost Rider already knows where we are."_ The blonde member said.

Everyone stopped and stared in dread at the blonde member. The lieutenant was the first to find his voice. _"H-H-How do you know f-for c-certain?"_

" _Because…"_ The blonde member took off his mask, revealing his left eye to be blue while his right eye was a bright orange. They immediately began to glow bright orange, like cinders of a fire. He then smirked and said _**"I'm The Ghost Rider."**_

His body was immediately engulfed in flames as White Fangs immediately ran to the doors, screaming in fear only for the realization to hit that every door in the warehouse was melted shut.

The flames died down, and Sienna Khan knew fear as she gazed upon the image of The Ghost Rider. The rational side of her brain tried to reason that this video was faked, but her instincts said it was real and to avoid the Rider at all costs.

She could only watch in horror as her brothers and sisters in arms pleaded for their lives, while The Ghost Rider held out his hand and summoned his chains. Gripping the short-swords attached to them, The Ghost Rider spoke. _**"I'm shocked that all of you are guilty. I can smell all of your sins, and all the blood of the innocents that has been spilled in the name of The White Fang. All of you have just been sentenced to death!"**_

" _I-I'll give you anything, please, just let me live!"_ The lieutenant pleaded. But the Rider chuckled _**"You gave me all I wanted… rapist."**_ He stated after identifying the sins of the lieutenant by sensing his aura.

" _NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_ The lieutenant screamed as The Rider approached him. The Rider threw a short-sword into the leg of the lieutenant, pulling him right to The Rider. He pulled up the lieutenant and breathed fire into his face, incinerating the Faunus' face off. He dropped the corpse and turned to the rest of the White Fang, chuckling like a demon would.

The camera feed then glitched, and the video feed cut to ten minutes later.

And Sienna was thankful that her stomach was empty.

The camera showed the room was almost all a dark red, when previously the walls were a lighter grey. Hundreds of corpses laid around the floor of the warehouse in grotesque fashion. Many were hacked into pieces, others charred into blackened skeletons, and some simply ripped apart. The sight would cause most to lose their mind, but Sienna steeled herself and turn her focus to the sight of the Ghost Rider, who stood above it all.

Blood was on his driving suit, but it soon evaporated off of his body into a red mist. Sienna then heard The Rider mumble to himself _**"One step at a time."**_ Before leaving the warehouse by stepping into a shadowed corner of the room and disappearing into it.

The video ended and Sienna let the scroll fall out of her hand as she collapsed back onto her throne in… she couldn't even discuss what she was feeling. Disgust? Hatred? Sorrow? So many thoughts flowed through her mind until she settled on one. "…Where did this monster come from?"

"We don't know ma'am. I think Adam Taurus knows, but he's overseeing the project on Belle Street and we can't get communications out to Mistral as of yet." The grunt said.

"… God, why have you damned us?" Sienna muttered to herself as she sent the grunt away.

'The mangled bodies… why does such a monster exist? What do you know, Adam?' She thought.

(Canelo's Garage) (2:30 PM)

Loud rock music played in the garage as Jaune clad in his mechanic uniform was beside Yang's motorcycle, Bumblebee (which he stole to get to Mistral in the first place), working on replacing parts of the suspension. The music came from a radio set down by his toolbox by Jaune's side. His mind was focused on the task at hand while in the back of his mind Eli was going over what they knew about Belle Street.

' _ **Belle Street, it's considered to be the second poorest business zone in the city behind the Garrett Ghettoes. The street is relatively small, with three gas stations, a pharmacy, one McDunckles's, and an abandoned apartment block. That's where Taurus is most likely based, it is alone on its block, with twenty floors, an entrance in the front and back, and a one floor basement system under ground level that's accessible only by stairs. Our best bet is to start down in the basement and work our way up. We could do the old trick of using the White Fang uniform we looted, but we have to work fast no matter what plan we use. We don't know what they're working on to warrant having to use such a large building, weapons if I had to guess. I'm guessing that there is up to a few grunts in there to not warrant suspicion, armed going by White Fang protocol, but we don't need to worry about that once we transform. But Adam's one of the organizations best fighters, so we have to keep our guard up as he could possibly harm us.'**_

'He'll be caught off guard. But probably a little bit on edge since his elite squad never showed up since we took care of them last night. His focus will be on that, not us if the stars align in our favor.' Jaune communicated to Eli.

' _ **You may be right, but the smart warrior goes into battle expecting the world to be leveled against him, never in his favor. By covering our bases, we can minimize our chances of failure.'**_ Eli stated.

'Sir, yes sir.' Jaune light-heartedly replied to Eli.

' _ **If all goes right, then we have Adam Taurus and our lead to finding Cinder.'**_ Eli restated to Jaune.

'Step-by-step, we'll finish the job.' Jaune stated.

But Jaune's music suddenly stopped as the DJ spoke _"Sorry 'bout that folks, but we got breaking news coming to you out of Belle Street."_

"Shit."/ _ **'Shit.'**_ Jaune and Eli said as they had a bad feeling for the news to be announced.

" _Local authorities have surrounded the abandoned Jean-Rial hotel, where a sizable White Fang cell has been stationed. Apparently from a mole that authorities have been working with, they were working on some kind of new steroid for their more physically-inclined members. It's made of a mix_ _anabolic-androgenic steroids, a liver enzyme blocker, various metabolic enhancers, methamphetamines, gorilla testosterone, one milligram of adrenaline, a whole bunch of other stuff, and a drop of peppermint (this for real?). The mole was found out and killed within the building, but not before he was able to call the cops. But now that we know that there are more armed Fangs than they can handle, so back-up by way of Atlas military has been called in for assistance. So folks, STAY FAR AWAY FROM BELLE STREET! Their words, not mine. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming."_ The DJ announced before turning the music back on.

Jaune and Eli were dumbfounded. 'Welp… there goes all of our planning.'

' _ **GOD DAMN IT!'**_ Eli shouted in the back of Jaune's mind. _**'I was so excited to have this plan be expertly executed, but now that all goes down the shitter.'**_

'Well that's why we have plan B.' Jaune replied as he wrapped-up working on Bumblebee for the day before clocking out and heading to the back room to get out of his mechanic uniform and work boots, placing it in his locker leaving him in his Arc-emblem t-shirt and jeans. He decided to leave the motorcycle here so he could finish up first thing in the morning.

'… _**You know how much I hate plan B.'**_ Eli stated.

'And you know how much I love plan B.' Jaune fired back jokingly as he slid on his jack and zipped it up. His Ghost Rider logo proudly shown on it.

' _ **I hate it since it's not much of a plan at all.'**_ Eli continued as Jaune pulled on his fingerless driving gloves and put on his usual converse shoes.

'What, no… it's a good plan.' Jaune argued, trying to sound like he knew exactly what he was doing as he headed out to the back lot, car keys in his right hand.

' _ **Plan B is just running in and winging it.'**_ Eli pointed out.

"… Why do you have to put it like that?" Jaune complained in a defeated tone.

' _ **Because you won't.'**_ Eli said, sounding smug.

"Screw you, Eli." Jaune said as he got into the car and started the engine. He checked his mirror, noting that his right eye was still orange instead of blue since the moment he made the deal with Eli.

'… _ **Well I guess plan B is better than sitting around doing nothing.'**_ Eli admitted.

"I knew you'd eventually see the light." Jaune said as he back out of the parking lot and accelerated down the main road.

"Eli, let's raise hell." Jaune said, with the intention to transform.

' _ **Heh… sounds good to me.'**_ Eli stated as he allowed the transformation to occur, with Jaune's eyes both glowing a fiery orange.

(Belle Street)

Three Atlas military trucks were set up in front of the not-abandoned Jean-Rial hotel. The street was cleared of civilians as a shoot-out was occurring between seven Atlas soldiers and maybe fifteen White Fang grunts, all armed with assault rifles.

There used to be ten Atlas soldiers, but three sadly fell in the line of duty.

"Damn it, I'm running low on ammo!" A solider called out to his team as they hid behind their trucks as cover from the line of fire.

"Same here! And these guys keep coming!" Another soldier replied, swallowing his nerves. Taking out a Fang with some well-placed shots.

"How many are in there?! I thought this was just a drug bust gone violent, not an all-out war!" A random soldier yelled out before peaking over and firing more shots into a window where he previously saw a Fang firing from. He was glad to see the Fang go down, but he ducked before bullet could hit him.

"KEEP IT GOING!" A White Fang yelled to his allies from the hotel. With a seemingly endless amount of bullets, they continued their assault on the Atlas military trucks.

Inside of the hotel, Adam Taurus, clad in his newer and more militaristic suit, was inside of a makeshift laboratory on the top floor of the building. In front of him was the chemist in charge of the lab. "We don't have much time. Is the pill done yet?"

The scientist shook his head. "Not yet. We need a few more minutes for the newest version to finish up. And we'll still have to test it. But I already sent my notes over to the next lab, so we won't be losing much."

"Not losing much…" Adam drew his sword, Wilt, and held it at the chemist's throat. The scientist was immediately scared for his life as Adam spoke in a tone that voiced his displeasure. "They know what we're making here. The media knows about the pill we've been developing for the last three years! This could all come down on our heads if we don't tread carefully! We cannot afford to lose this weapon, do I make myself clear?" Adam stated as Wilt glowed, charging up his signature attack, The Moonslice

"Y-Yes sir." The chemist replied, terrified for his life.

Adam sheathed Wilt into his scabbard/rifle combination, Blush. "Good. We have any test subjects?"

"W-We have one." The chemist sated quickly.

"Field test the pill the second it's done." Adam ordered as he stepped to a window, viewing the firefight far below him.

Back down on the ground, an Atlas soldier was hit in the shoulder and he collapsed onto the ground in pain. His ally beside him dropped to his side and yelled "WE GOTTA GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"

"DUMBASS, WE'RE TRAPPED!" Another soldier yelled back before taking a few more shots.

Before another word could be said between them, a soldier saw that four White Fangs were lighting Molotov's. "GUYS!" He yelled to grab his allies' attention.

Most of the soldiers saw why their ally was scared, and felt it also. Their ammo ran out, leaving them defenseless to the upcoming attack.

As the White Fang members aimed their volley of Molotov's, the soldiers could only hope to come out of this alive.

And their prayers were heard.

" **RUUUOOOOAHHHHHGHHH!"**

The White Fang grunts froze in fear, their hearts literally stopping for a moment as they knew what made that hellish roar. Adam Taurus on the other hand, was curious. He's only heard rumors and hushed whispers about it since The White Fang numbers started dropping like flies.

The screech of tires echoed through the neighborhood as The Hell Charger zoomed down the street, the blower spewing fire as the wheels were burning, leaving a trail behind the jet black car as it stopped parallel in front of the Atlas trucks.

The roof of the car stretched as if it was melting upwards. Soon a human shape formed from it, standing tall as it took its true form. The form was clad in a black driving suit with a rectangular emblem, sans bottom line, emblazoned on its chest. The form looked slim, but muscular as the head formed. The head looked like a skull-like racing helmet with demonic, sharp teeth. The eye-holes formed along with an ident on the forehead. The eyes immediately lit up with bright cinders, the indent began spewing flames along with the sides of the jaw following suit.

The White Fang knew this monster by reputation while The Atlas Soldiers only heard rumors of such a force as it stood menacingly on the roof of its car. And this force had a name:

The Ghost Rider.

A White Fang panicked and threw their Molotov right at The Ghost Rider, whose head snapped to The White Fang grunt who threw it as his right hand shot out and easily grabbed the Molotov out of the air.

The Rider then took the rag out of the bottle, the fire extinguishing as he did so, and chugged the alcohol straight from the bottle.

This action just made The Atlas Soldiers take a moment for the reality of the situation to settle in that The Ghost Rider was real and he just drank a Molotov cocktail.

When The Rider finished his "drink", he let out a sigh of content before saying **"Thanks for the drink, fellas."**

Half of the White Fang grunts just wanted to run for their lives, but their legs were still frozen in fear. But the other half just ignored that thought and ran for the back exit.

The Rider then flipped the bottle so he was holding it by the neck and threw it at The White Fang member who originally threw it at him, shattering it on his forehead and knocking the grunt out cold.

The Rider then cracked his neck and asked **"Is your boss home?"** He looked up and saw Adam staring down at him from a window on the top floor of the building. **"Never mind, I see him."** The Rider cupped his hands and yelled **"Adam Taurus! I have some questions for you!"**

Adam opened the window and responded calmly. "What the hell do you want?!"

" **Cinder Fall!"** The Rider yelled back.

Adam's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Never heard of her!" He lied.

The Ghost Rider's faced morphed, kinda like he was raising an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. **"Bullshit!"** He stated. **"I know the two of you are working together!"**

"I'm pretty sure that I'm hallucinating from blood loss." A wounded Atlas soldier suggested to his allies.

"Same." All of the other Atlas soldiers agreed.

" **I'll tell you this one time, you son of a bitch, SO LISTEN UP!"** The Rider then summoned his chains into his grip and pointed the short-sword in his right hand at Adam. **"You tell me where Cinder Fall is and I'll make your death quick and painless!"**

Adam just stood there from the window like a statue for a good minute before chuckling to himself. Which turned into him covering his mouth with his palm so it wouldn't escape, but he gave up that endeavor as his chuckling turned into full-blown laughter as he even had to hold his sides after laughing like a maniac for more than a minute.

The Rider just looked confused as did The Atlas soldier and especially The White Fang grunts, who didn't even know that Adam had any emotions other than stoic and full-blown psycho.

Adam settled down after a minute, but the mood has changed as Adam regarded The Rider as if he was a child. "You are funny, I'll give you that. Guess I'll have to indulge you." Adam jumped out of the window on the twentieth floor, drawing his sword and imbedding the blade into the wall to slow his descent as he reached the ground.

The Rider turned to the Atlas soldiers. **"Get out of here and tend to the wounded."** The soldiers didn't hesitate to GTFO as fast as they could, having faith in The Ghost Rider as they headed to the hospital.

Adam turned to his White Fang grunts and yelled "Go to the top floor, follow the doctor's instructions!" His six conscious grunts literally tripped over themselves to get distance away from The Rider.

Adam sheathed his sword with his right hand still gripping it as he slid into his laido stance, taking the fight with complete seriousness as he lost the upbeat look on his face from earlier in exchange for no emotion at all.

The Rider got into his stance: knees and elbows bent with both of his short-swords gripped upward in both hands, chains dangling, his face showing his intense focus. But for once, he didn't have the intention to kill: he needed Adam alive and talking. So for now, The Rider was at a disadvantage compared to his opponent.

Not giving Adam a chance, since his style focused on speed attacks in single strokes, The Rider kept his distance as he breathed a plume of fire at Adam. But The White Fang leader quickly drew and swiped his sword in the air, causing the fire to be blown back at The Rider by the force of the air from Adam's swing. The Rider was fireproof though, and Adam noted that as he re-sheathed his sword and moved back into his stance.

The two then started circling each other, the tension rising. The Rider had a feeling that his fire wouldn't be that useful against this opponent, but he had another trick up his sleeve. When the two had switched positions, with The Rider in front of the hotel and Adam in front of the still aflame Hell Charger, The Rider jumped at Adam with both arms behind him for an upcoming overhead attack.

Adam drew his sword and used his left hand on the blunt end of the blade to block The Rider's attack. As the two pushed against the other's weapon, The Hell Charger revved up its wheels on its own and charged into the back of Adam Taurus. With his focus being taken by The Rider, Adam couldn't prepare himself for the surprise attack and yelled out in pain even as his Aura tanked the damage.

The Rider was taken along for the ride as the care had a set collision course for the hotel, using both swordsmen as the front bumper. But The Rider phased into Adam's shadow and reappeared in the driver's seat of The Hell Charger.

Before The Ghost Rider could ram the bull Faunus into the building, Adam was able to get a grip on the car and launched himself onto the hood of the car. The Rider activated The Hell Charger's blower to act like a flamethrower, but Adam flipped onto the roof of the car as they crashed into the lobby of the abandoned hotel.

The Rider quickly phased through the car's roof and kicked Adam in the chest and across the lobby of the hotel, into the far wall. The Rider threw his right short-sword at Adam's arm, the chains replicating to extend the length of the attack. Adam saw this coming, but with no time to counterattack he dropped to the ground.

The Rider flicked his wrist down to change the direction of the attack while it was still mid-air, but the short-sword still ended up embedded in the wall behind Adam. The Ghost Rider shifted gears and jumped while pulling on the chain after changing the short-sword into a crowbar, effectively sending himself flying right into Adam who was able to stand up.

While The Ghost Rider was mid-air, Adam unsheathed Wilt and made stabbing motion in order to impale The Rider on his blade. The Rider made a last-minute turn with his body to have his chest barely scrape the blade instead of being impaled, with the turn he also passed above Adam's head and landed on his feet behind the terrorist.

The Ghost Rider quickly turned towards Adam, gripped his chain in a fist and punched Adam in the lower back while ripping the crowbar out of the wall. The superhuman punch sent Adam face first into the ground and made him drop his sword. The Rider noticed this and had his chains disappear into smoke before picking up Wilt, just as Adam flipped over to his back.

Adam then saw his own sword wielded by The Ghost Rider, pointed right between his eyes. He glared behind his mask as The Ghost Rider said **"Answer the question, Adam."**

"… What makes you think I know where that bitch is?" Adam stalled for time.

" **You're her contact with the White Fang, she gets her grunts from you. You know her personally. So, I'll ask one more time and I better get a direct answer."**

The Rider asked his question once more. **"Where is Cinder F-"** The building then shook, making Adam smirk as he didn't have to stall The Rider for long.

" **The hell?"** The Rider asked as he heard a series of crashes from around the top floor of the building, each one louder than the last as if it was getting closer, before a giant White Fang grunt broke through the ceiling and landed right on The Ghost Rider, knocking him out.

The giant White Fang member used to look like any other generic grunt, but now he looked like a monster. Standing over ten feet tall of pure muscle with purple pulsing veins, bound in light grey skin, teeth like a shark, bald head, claws on his hands and feet, glowing red eyes, sharpened ears, and clad only with white pants stretched to its limit.

Adam pulled himself up and took Wilt back from the unconscious Ghost Rider, sheathing it back into Blush. Adam was relieved that the HYDE pill finally worked, but asked the HYDE Fang "What happened to the other five?"

The HYDE Fang said in a deep, baritone voice "Dead. They explode."

"One is better than none." Adam noticed that The Rider was coming to from under the foot of the HYDE Fang. "Finish him or at least hold him off, I'm out of here."

Adam then ran out to the back exit, making his escape as The Rider regained consciousness.

" **What the hell hit me?"** He asked himself before realizing that he was trapped under a giant foot. He then phased into the shadow that the HYDE Fang casted, teleporting to the other side of the room by the hotel's entrance. The Rider took one good look at the HYDE Fang before saying **"You are one UGLY motherfucker."**

The HYDE Fang spun around to face The Rider and charged headfirst to The Rider. The Rider easily jumped over the head of the HYDE Fang and sent a punch with the force of a semi-truck into his enemy's back, but it had no effect as the HYDE Fang crashed through the wall and was outside the hotel.

The Rider nimbly landed on his feet and summoned his chains into his hands. _**'Whatever drug they were developing here, this must be the result.'**_ Eli suggested.

" **Has to be. It's like a super-steroid that increases strength and durability, but he doesn't seem that bright. Adam's gone, so we have to finish this guy before we go hunting Adam down again."** The Ghost Rider said.

' _ **I'd rather you not fight this guy, but this'll be a good learning experience. This is probably stage one of what they'll give their troops. We can figure out its weakness now so future fights will be easier.'**_ Eli said.

" **Glad to know we're on the same page."** The Ghost Rider said as the HYDE Fang charged right back into the hotel.

The Rider ran at the charging HYDE Fang, before dropping down and sliding between his legs and slicing at the HYDE Fang's left calf. Thankfully, the cut was able to cut into the behemoth, but only barely. Heck, the HYDE Fang didn't even feel the slice.

Shifting gears while in the middle of his slide, The Rider jumped high into the air and lashed his chain towards the HYDE Fang's legs, effectively wrapping his unbreakable chains around the legs of the brute and making him crash face-first into the floor.

With the chain still wrapped his legs, the Rider pulled hard on the chain to launch him right at the HYDE Fang landing on his back. Using his free short-sword, he stabbed into the right shoulder of the beast. The HYDE Fang struggled but The Rider was able to wrench his blade and violently remove the HYDE Fang's right arm from his shoulder. The HYDE Fang roared like a bear in pain, letting The Ghost Rider know that he has the upper hand.

The Ghost Rider was then thrown off of the HYDE Fang as he thrashed like a bucking bronco. The Rider landed on his feet and summoned his chains into his grip, freeing the HYDE Fang from the confines of the chain's grip.

The HYDE Fang clambered to his feet and tried to smash The Ghost Rider with an overhead attack, but The Rider side-stepped to dodge the attack. The Rider then used the opening provided to him and zoomed under the arm of the HYDE Fang. He quickly stabbed the right side of the monster's stomach and before the HYDE Fang knew it, quickly dragged the blade across the stomach to the other side.

The Hyde Fang dropped to his knees, his guts spilling out of The Rider's final attack, before finally dropping to the floor dead.

The Ghost Rider let his chains disappear into smoke before sighing in disappointment. **"I was expecting more of a challenge than just stabbing the guy."**

' _ **Doesn't help that we lost Taurus too.'**_ Eli continued.

The Ghost Rider nodded before looking up at the straight series of holes in multiple floors of the building that lead right to the top floor. The Rider then walked into a shadow and teleported into the top floor of the hotel and looking around the makeshift laboratory. Five White Fang grunt corpses line the floor, all exploded from the torso area, with a dead scientist by a computer on a table. He head missing from his body like it was ripped off.

The Ghost Rider walked over the dead body and found himself at the still running computer. He scrolled through many files that were just left open, he figured that the dead doctor was supposed to do something with the computer, but was killed before he could. The Rider found a folder that listed the full capabilities and stages of the HYDE Pill development, he saved himself a copy to his scroll and e-mailed the Mistral Police Department the entire folder. Closing that out, The Ghost Rider found a text file on the desktop that was titled 'ADDRESS'. The Rider opened it up and was glad that he took the time to snoop around the computer.

The file was a list of multiple labs around the city that was developing the HYDE Pill, along with safe houses, bunkers, and the newest entry made The Ghost Rider and Eli want to scream in joy. It was the location of Adam's personal safe house in Mistral.

" **Thank god for incompetent minions!"** The Ghost Rider cheered.

 ** _'This is it, this is what we needed! Take the hard drive! There might be more bits of juicy info that'll be of use.'_** Eli told his partner in vengeance.

The Rider saved that to his scroll too before turning off the computer and removing the hard drive for later research. He jumped down the hole to the first floor of the hotel with the hard drive in hand. He jumped into the Hell Charger and zoomed off back to his apartment.

Changing back to Jaune Arc, the young man felt as if his hopes were burning like he did. This whole debacle was better than he could've hoped. Adam was close to talking, now Jaune knew that he had him.

"Run away, Taurus. Run away to your 'safe house'. Tomorrow The Ghost Rider will find you and finish the job." Jaune said to himself before turning on the radio to his usual rock station, which so happened to be playing Highway to Hell.

"I'm on the highway to hell! On the highway to hell!" Jaune sang with the radio.

 _ **'** **Highway to hell! I'm on the highway to hell!'**_ Eli jumped in, relishing on today's win.

And both were excited for tomorrow's prospects.

(Mistral Train Station) (Late Night)

A young woman with flowing blonde hair dressed similar to a biker stepped away from the train station and onto the sidewalk. In her hand was her scroll, with a GPS program overlaid on a map. She hailed a taxi that then stopped in front of her. She opened the door with her black and yellow robotic right hand and entered the taxi.

"Where you headin'?" The taxi driver asked.

"Do you know where… Canelo's Garage is?" The young woman asked after checking the GPS.

"It's a little late to be going to the mechanic. You got a car in the shop?" The taxi driver asked.

"Naw, just looking for my bike and the asshole who stole it." The young woman said.

"Really now? Well the shop's definitely closed for the day, how about I drop you off at a nearby hotel and you can head in when they're open in the morning." The taxi driver offered.

"Thanks." The young woman said as the taxi headed to a nearby hotel.

"You're welcome, Miss…" The driver suggested that he wanted to know her name.

The young woman smirked in confidence "Yang, Yang Xiao-Long."

"Xiao-Long… you're not related to Taiyang Xiao-Long by any chance? Or anyone of team STRQ?" The taxi driver asked, curious more than anything else.

"My family is team STRQ. My father's Taiyang." Yang said.

"And Raven Branwen's your mother." The taxi driver said.

Yang's eyes flashed red from their usual lilac. "How do you know?" She said with an undertone of violent intentions.

"You look just like her. Just with a different color palette. You should get a hat or a hood. Something to hide your face." The taxi driver said.

Yang raised an eyebrow and asked "Why?"

"Team STRQ has a bit of a reputation in this town, especially your parents. Lots of grudges. Lots of bandits. They're not as prevalent as the White Fang, but with how The Ghost Rider's getting rid of the White Fang, they're going to set up shop here in their place." The taxi driver said.

Yang thought about it, deciding that he may have a point before asking one last question:

"Who's The Ghost Rider?"


	5. Xiao-Long Have You Been Running?

Spirits Of Vengeance

AN: This is it, the chapter I've been waiting for! Now the story will live up to its name by the end of this chapter. I can say, you're in for a treat. But I gotta say the fights in this chapter drained me and that's why the story hasn't had an update in forever. For some reason, listening to "This is America" by Childish Gambino is what it took to make me finish this chapter. Now that's out of the way, let's rock!

(Disclaimer: I wouldn't be here if I owned Rooster Teeth or Marvel)

Chapter 5: Xiao-Long Have You Been Running?

(Canelo's Garage) (Morning)

Yang Xiao-Long strolled up to the front door of Canelo's Garage, whistling a jaunty tune to herself as she opened the door and walked into the lobby.

It was devoid of customers as the day really only just started, with only Canelo himself present as he sat at the desk to check-in customers. He laid back in his chair, eyes closed, mumbling along to a song on the radio, Southern Nights by Glen Campbell. Yang had to admit, it was a catchy song. But she had a mission to complete. She walked up to the desk, noticed the call bell on the desk, and rang it twice to get Canelo's attention.

The bell did its job as it got Canelo's attention, he opened an eye before realizing that he had a customer and sitting up, ready for business. The tan and portly moose Faunus greeted Yang. "Welcome to Canelo's Garage. You here for tune-up, repairs, or consultation?"

Yang gave the man a charming smile, not looking for a fight… yet. "Sorry, sir. I'm just looking for my motorcycle. It was stolen a while back after all the shit in Beacon went down."

"Motorcycle? What does she look like? I got a couple being worked on at the moment. We don't do cars exclusively over here." Canelo told her.

"It's yellow and black, with some orange in the back." Yang told the man.

Canelo thought about before saying "Huh… that sounds like the bike Jaune rode in on when he came to town."

The name Jaune instantly struck a chord with Yang. A name she hasn't heard for at least seven months since Beacon fell. "Jaune? As in Jaune Arc? Tall, scraggly, looks like a lost kitten? That Jaune Arc?"

"Yup, sounds like my favorite employee. And you say that he stole it, am I hearing this right?" Canelo asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Now, where is Jaune Arc?" Yang said, with an intense look on her face.

Canelo pulled out his scroll and dialed a number, after the other side picked up he sternly said "Flame brain! Get your sorry butt out here!"

 _"Coming boss."_ The other line said before hanging up.

Canelo stood up and led Yang to a set of double doors on their right, where in walked Jaune Arc clad in his mechanic uniform and was cleaning his hands with a rag. "Hey, boss what's up?"

Yang saw that Jaune looked a bit different, more mature, like he'd been working out. Maybe it was because his right eye was now orange instead of blue. Or the fact that Yang hadn't seen such a friendly face like his for a long time. Pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind she did the only thing she could think of: she pulled back her right mechanical arm and threw a punch to Jaune's face that sent him flying through the doors, across the garage, and into the far wall.

Canelo looked at Yang with a quirked eyebrow and crossed arms. "Usually we wait for an explanation and not jump right into sending a man's employee into a coma."

Yang sighed in frustration. "It's been a… long six months since I saw Jaune."

Canelo rolled his eyes and walked to his desk, taking his previous spot. "Isn't the first time this shit happened in my shop. Just keep it down, will ya? Man's gotta sleep. And please clean up any blood that may or may not be spilt. There's a mop and bucket in the far corner of the garage." And with that, Canelo closed his eyes and continued mumbling along to Southern Nights.

Yang didn't pay the moose Faunus any heed as she menacingly walked to the far wall where Jaune was imbedded, upside down of all positions.

All of the mechanics in the shop simply stayed far out of Yang's way, as they knew to never mess with a woman like her.

From his spot in the wall, Jaune mumbled like an idiot in a daze with stars in his eyes "Did the White Fang find me, Eli?"

' _ **Not this time. Just some blonde whose hair looks like it's on fire.'**_ Eli said.

"Hair on fire… blonde… Yang?" Jaune then fell from the hole in the wall and landed on his head, his body crumpling to the ground with him. His aura tanked the damage, but Jaune only just got out of his daze as he sat up and saw the person coming after him was truly "Yang?!"

The blonde brawler stopped right in front of Jaune, her eyes a dark red that Jaune would've cowered from, but his time in Mistral built up his confidence.

She didn't say a word to Jaune, only just cracking the knuckles in the hand that wasn't robotic.

Jaune may be able to face over a hundred armed White Fang grunts without a care, but Yang was killing his confidence now.

Feeling a bit bold, Jaune asked "Hey, you… what-what are you doing here?"

Yang actually responded this time, with a fake smile as she cracked the knuckles in her left hand. "Oh, you know. Taking in the sights, trying exotic barbeque… looking for my bike." She then cracked the knuckles in her robotic hand.

At this point Jaune simply was afraid for his life. And Eli was laughing his ass off.

"I-I-I" Jaune couldn't form a word so he quickly pointed to Yang's right, and she turned to see her bike. Yang's eyes widened before her head snapped back to Jaune and asked "What did you do to my bike?'

Jaune then found his voice. "T-Tune up."

Yang then bent down in front of Jaune, grabbed him by the collar of his uniform, and pulled him up to his feet. "I meant what did you do to my bike since you stole it?"

"Nothing bad. Just the occasional repair, here and there." Jaune said.

"Okay. Next question: why did you steal my bike, Jauney-Boy?" Yang asked, this being the question that would decide whether or not his face would still look pretty.

' _ **I could transform you right now, if you want.'**_ Eli suggested.

'What, no! I don't want to fight Yang!' Jaune mentally replied to Eli.

' _ **Really? You stole her bike. I'm gonna take a gander and say it was around when she lost her arm, am I wrong? By the looks of it, Jaune Arc can't handle this crazy chick with a top-grade cybernetic arm and short fuse.'**_ Eli said.

'… Fuck you, Eli.' Jaune said before going back to Yang.

'Well, the truth will set you free.' He said to focus his words and told Yang "I'm sorry, Yang. I just… didn't think. I just took off to go after Cinder and her crew."

Yang froze in her tracks. "Wait, you did what?"

"I found her here. I had a run in with her a while back, but she escaped." Jaune said.

"…Is that why your eye is orange? She did something to you?" Yang guessed.

"... It's a part of what she did." Jaune said, not in the mood to remember his death.

"How did she not kill you?" Yang asked.

"I really don't want to talk about it now." Jaune said sternly. "But I do want to talk to you, calmly after work. It's been a while since I've seen a friendly face like yours." He said honestly.

Yang looked at him like he was a madman. "I just sent you flying across the place you work and threatened your ass for stealing my bike, and you just want to talk?"

"How about over at the local ice cream place?" Jaune added.

Yang just stood there like a certain statue, thinking over his words, before chuckling to herself. "…. Eh, why the hell not?"

Jaune's face brightened and he jumped up onto his feet. "Great! I'll take my car! Your bike is all set to go. I'll meet you later." Jaune then headed back to his work area and continued on his job for the day.

Yang's surprise was visible. "Since when do you have a car?"

(Eberle's Ice Cream) (Sunset)

Sitting in a booth of the ice cream shop, far off in the corner, was Jaune and Yang. Both enjoying their orders: a classic sundae for Jaune while Yang had a waffle bowl of neapolitan. Their seat had a large glass window that showed The Hell Charger parked next to Bumblebee outside in the parking lot.

The shop was barren except for them, the one person behind the cashier who served the ice cream, and two customers on the other side of the shop.

Both were kind of afraid to talk to each other. Jaune was worried about revealing what he's really been doing in Mistral while Yang was afraid of losing a friend after the earlier debacle. But they knew it had to be done.

So after they finished their treats, they awkwardly waited for the other to start the conversation.

"So…" Yang tried.

"So…" Jaune attempted.

Another minute passed of awkward silence before Yang said "Um… nice car you got."

"Thanks. My boss gave her to me when she was about to be trashed. It took me months to get her fixed up. Now she's beautiful." Jaune said.

"Did you know the old owner?" Yang asked.

"Not really. He died before I met him. I learned more about him afterwards." Jaune admitted truthfully.

' _ **And now you have a dead guy in your mind, wrapped around your soul.'**_ Eli said nonchalantly, as he was content just being dead and having Jaune do the work.

"What was he like?" Yang asked.

"He was a hitman who worked for a cult." Jaune said with a straight face.

' _ **That was freelance work!'**_ Eli yelled.

Yang almost fell out of her seat in the booth. "No freakin' way!"

"Yup. More as a freelancer than anything else." Jaune added to keep the dead guy from giving him a migraine.

"Wait, so did he participate in sacrifices and shit like that?" Yang asked, getting invested in the topic.

' _ **No. All I did was dabble in a bit of voodoo out of boredom and the "immortality" ritual that turned me into what I am today.'**_ Eli said.

'A jackass?' Jaune replied mentally.

'… _**Burn in hell, Jaune.'**_ Eli said unamused.

"Yup, I think he sacrificed a person or two." Jaune said, getting a kick out of Eli's reactions.

"Damn, hope the car wasn't involved with that shit." Yang said.

"Didn't find any blood when I replaced the seats." Jaune told her.

"Kinda surprised that you did all of that in a matter of months." Yang said, looking out the window and admiring the black '69 charger.

"Canelo was a great teacher. He says I picked up on being a mechanic real fast." Jaune said.

"Why did you become a mechanic? It seems odd for a guy like you to just pick it up." Yang asked.

"When I came to town (on your bike) I needed money, Canelo's was the only place I found that was hiring. He took me in and got me on my feet. I am thankful for that man." Jaune said.

"How long have you been here?" Yang asked.

Jaune did the math in his head and came up with "Took me a few weeks to get here with your bike right after Beacon fell. Then six months to set up shop and find Cinder. Then another month as I've been… cleaning up since then and here we are at the present."

Yang nodded. "Good for you, I've spent a couple months after Beacon in a slump. I was able to pull myself out of it with Dad's help and he got me back on my feet. And got me this swanky-ass arm." Yang then flexed her cyborg arm, so Jaune whistled as a compliment to the design. "I've been spending the last few weeks coming here for my bike, then I'm going to finally find my mother. I'm going to get answers and hopefully get stronger."

"Stronger… To fight Cinder?" Jaune asked.

"Yup. It's what everyone else is doing." Yang said, while leaving out an important detail that was specific to herself.

"… How are Ren and Nora?" Jaune asked.

"Fine, as long as they've got each other. They were… sad to learn that they lost half of their team." Yang told him somberly.

"… I shouldn't have left them, but I've got to live with that mistake. I can't bring them into this." Jaune admitted.

"This being whatever you're doing now?" Yang asked.

Jaune nodded.

Yang took another look at Jaune's car before asking "So… you've been here for a while… what do you know about this Ghost Rider guy? Was he here when you arrived here? In Mistral I mean."

Jaune panicked, he hoped that this would be the one thing that Yang wouldn't talk to him about. He's thankful that no one had known that he's The Ghost Rider, but he had a sinking feeling that Canelo knew but kept that info to himself. Nothing gets passed that man's antlers.

'Got any idea what I should say?' Jaune asked Eli.

' _ **How about "**_ **Hey Yang, I'm totally not The Ghost Rider, I just happen to drive the same car he does. But don't put it all together and figure me out."** _ **…Okay, I was kidding about that. It is suspicious that she know about our "night job" already. She couldn't have been in town for long. She probably doesn't know much, by my guess. Just… I don't know, go with plan B.'**_

'I thought you hated plan B.' Jaune said mentally.

' _ **Oh I do, but winging it is one of your "specialties".'**_ Eli said.

So, plan B it was.

He fried back with another question. "Ghost Rider, where'd you hear about him?"

"My cab driver from last night mentioned him. That he's been wiping out The White Fang in the area." Yang said.

"… I say he's doing the right thing." Jaune said.

"What do mean by that?" Yang asked.

"The White Fang is… terrible. You thought they were bad in Vale? Well here they're much worse. They ruled the streets, people were afraid to go out at night and risk running into a gang of their members. The Rider's been getting rid of them, something I agree with." Jaune said adamantly.

"I don't know what to think." Yang admitted. "I mean, Blake was with them when she was younger. Her family too. But they got out when they could when things got violent. She has faith that they can turn it around and go straight… but groups like these get worse, not better." Yang slumped back in her seat. "I trusted Blake, she was my partner. I trusted her with my life, I trusted her judgements. She's too sentimental with them. She'd want to fight The Rider and take him down."

"What is she doing now?" Jaune asked.

"… She ran away." Yang said, her voice conveying sadness.

"She ran away?" Jaune asked, his head feeling hot. His anger beginning to rise.

"Yeah…" Yang said.

As Jaune was processing this, he felt something was wrong. He could smell the sins of someone in the area and boy were they intense. Like that of a serial killer. The source was outside the building that much he could tell. It was starting to drive him up the wall as he just had the urge to jump out of the booth and hunt down the source. But Jaune steeled himself and wanted to hear more about what's going on with Blake.

"When?" Jaune asked.

"Right after everything was said and done." Yang said.

"Did she even see you in the hospital?" Jaune asked a bit too loudly, a fire rising in his head. The presence was getting closer, his own willpower waning.

"…No… She didn't." Yang continued.

"She just left you high and dry?! Did she even see Ruby or Weiss?!" Jaune said even louder, with Eli having trouble holding back the power of the Rider as it manifested in Jaune's eyes. His anger with Blake rising as it also felt as if the presence was just across the street.

"…" Her silence conveyed that he was right.

"THAT LITTLE…" He held himself back, shutting his eyes as they were glowing orange. His inside were also melting, literally. _**'If you keep going kiddo, you'll transform in a rage state. I didn't even know that was a thing until now!'**_ Eli told his partner, getting nervous over the potential of blowing their cover as he was trying desperately hold control. If Eli wasn't trying, then Jaune's flesh would be melting off at this point.

'I! AM! TRYING!' Jaune replied.

Jaune took a deep breath to calm himself down, but it didn't help in the slightest as he felt the anger within keep growing. "I… am going to kill her." He muttered but Yang heard him.

"Don't." Yang said, feeling uneasy as she never saw Jaune like this.

Jaune let out a deep breath, some smoke coming out with it. "Trust me, I will."

"Jaune, I don't want you to hurt her!" Yang protested.

Jaune opened his eyes, with them glowing orange with fire blazing from them, and yelled "SHE'S NO BETTER THAN T **HE WHITE FANG!"** His voice took on the demonic aspect of The Ghost Rider. He had no idea what he was saying at this point with rage clouding his mind.

Yang saw the fire in his eyes, but didn't feel an ounce of fear. "… What about you? You also just left." She pointed out with a glare in her eyes.

Not even caring that his cover was being blown he continued **"I went after Cinder, Blake just left! DO NOT COMPARE ME TO THAT TRAITOR!"**

"WE COULD'VE GONE AFTER CINDER TOGETHER! WITH EVERYONE!" Yang yelled at Jaune, getting up in her seat and slamming her palms on the table, angry over his words against Blake.

" **SHE WOULD'VE KILLED EVERYONE!"** Jaune yelled, getting up also.

"YOU'RE STILL STANDING IN FRONT OF ME! YOU TOOK HER ON LIKE A MORON AND YOU LIVED!" Yang shouted with her eyes turning red in rage.

Jaune's head then started smoking. **"CINDER FALL KILLED ME!"**

The three people in the shop stopped what they were doing to see what was going on, and were scared shitless to see the two teen look like they were about to take each other on and take the building with them.

"BULLSHIT, YOU FUCKING MORON! YOU'RE ALIVE AND TALKING TO ME YOU DELUSIONAL DUMBASS!" She yelled right in his face.

" **I HAD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH A DEMONIC MURDERER TO COME BACK AS THIS!"** Jaune yelled back.

Before either could continue, Jaune sensed the presence touching his car and looked out the window to see Adam Taurus standing on top of it, who had a mad smile on his face as he was in a laido stance charging up his moonslice.

" **GET DOWN!"** Jaune then quickly grabbed Yang's arm and pulled them to the ground and under the table as Adam unleashed his moonslice, obliterating the building from the sheer force of the slice and causing it to collapse.

The moment before the building collapsed, Jaune covered Yang with his body to protect her from the collapsing building.

From outside the building, Adam laughed to himself. "Easy to find and easy to kill. The Ghost Rider was just another boy trying to be a man." Adam jumped off of the car and began strolling down the street, humming a tune to himself as a couple of bystanders saw the carnage, but ran off knowing not to mess with White Fang business.

From within the building, Jaune was holding back both rubble from the building so it wouldn't kill Yang, and holding back himself from transforming into the rage state Eli mentioned. But then Jaune smelled blood, and the presence of Adam's sins grow. Jaune pieced together what Adam did, triple murder of the innocent people in the building… all because he was talking with an old friend.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back as Jaune's head caught on fire. Yang saw this and whispered "Jaune?" as she was still conscious after the destruction.

Unlike the other times he transformed, Jaune felt pain as he felt the flesh melt from his bones. Yang's screams were silent as she saw Jaune's face melt until the blazing skull was left. The rest of his body followed suit as his skull shifted to show cracks that were lighting up from the fire within his skull. His eyeholes ignited with cinders. His regular clothes didn't change as the transformation completed and The Ghost Rider was covering Yang. (AN: Rage transform = MCU Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider. Normal transform = comics Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider.)

' _ **JAUNE, YOU FREAKIN' IDIOT!'**_ Eli screamed within his partner's mind. He knew Jaune would live since he transformed, but the boy would not be alright. Usually, Jaune and Eli would have to agree to transform into The Ghost Rider, but this was something neither thought possible. This form felt different, bestial is the best Eli could describe it as. The connection to the car was there, but more as a link and not as the usual connection that made the car feel like an extension of The Rider. This was uncharted territory, and of course it all had to happen when Adam Taurus was around.

The Rider then, without warning, let out its demonic roar **"RUUUOOOOAHHHHHGHHH!"** beforeit threw the tons of rubble off of the both of them, bringing them to the outside world.

The legendary monster of Mistral cracked its neck as it left Yang, stepped over the carnage, approached its car, opened the trunk, and pulled out a long chain. The Rider admired it before wrapping it around his torso with the flick of a wrist.

"… Ghost Rider." Yang muttered in disbelief from her clearing in the rubble as she was in shock that her friend turned into such a monster.

Within Jaune's head, Eli for once felt alone. The power of The Rider was suppressing Jaune's mind as it focused on the one job of The Ghost Rider: Vengeance.

Adam wasn't far away when he heard the roar, so he stopped in his tracks and turned back towards the destroyed building and readied Wilt for his job wasn't done yet. And he wasn't afraid as he saw the familiar flaming skeleton of The Ghost Rider as it began walking towards him, albeit looking different.

"You should've stayed down." Adam called out to his enemy, but The Rider didn't talk as it cracked its bony knuckles. "It was easy to find you, not many people in Mistral has your kind of car. You really should've used something else to get around town."

The Rider let out a grunt, clearly not interested in conversation, only focused on killing Adam.

"What, too scared to speak, or is it something else?" Adam taunted to no avail, as The Rider was running on rage.

The Rider then yanked the chain off of his torso, the chain becoming red hot in his grip, and spun it fast as hell to his side before jumping high towards Adam and attempting to send him flying with a swing of the chain, but Adam deflected it with a quick slash of Wilt.

The Rider jumped back to gain distance before flicking the end of the chain towards Adam's head, who side stepped it and stabbed Wilt into the opening of a chain link and using his sword to pull The Rider off balance, but it was as useless as trying to pull down a tree with your teeth. The Rider yanked the chain upwards and then towards him, causing Adam to follow the same path to fly towards The Rider who had an arm pulled back to slam Adam into the asphalt as their fight took to the street. Adam quickly turned his body so he'd barely miss the punch, but then countered by kneeing The Rider in the face. The hit made The Rider stumble, giving Adam time to land on his feet and ready for the next round of attacks.

The Ghost Rider recovered from the attack, and then had a fireball form in his free hand. The Rider threw it at Adam, who deflected it back at The Rider with a quick batting from Wilt. The fireball had no effect on The Rider as it hit him in the chest, leaving his jacket unscathed.

The Rider grunted in pestering annoyance, before throwing all caution to the wind and charging at Adam. While he wouldn't normally do this, The Rider's mind was still clouded in this rage form.

Adam brought up his scabbard/rifle, Blush, and fired a high impact shot at The Rider's chest. It didn't penetrate, but the force of the impact did send him flying backwards onto his back and made him drop his chain. Adam followed up by jumping onto the chest of The Rider and firing five shots from Blush into The Rider's skull, each hit making him more and more unable to focus or function. Adam stomped on The Rider's chest to attempt to break his ribs, but the inhuman durability of The Rider didn't allow that. This gave The Rider a second of reprieve as Adam realized that idea was a fruitless endeavor.

The Bull Faunus flipped the hold he had on Wilt and went to stab The Ghost Rider in right between the eyeholes in a downward motion. The Ghost Rider was barely able to reach out with his left hand to grab the blade from completing the task by pushing back.

Adam and The Rider struggled against each other until The Rider moved his head to the side and let go off the blade, impaling it into the ground beside his head.

Using his right fist, it uppercut Adam in the chest to send him flying over ten meters away. Adam maneuvered himself midair so that he would land gracefully on his feet and sheath Wilt into Blush, taking a stationary stance as he watched The Ghost Rider get onto his feet and pick up his chain. Adam focused his aura in the sword, the red from his form glowing brightly as he charged up his next move.

If The Ghost Rider had any higher brain function, he'd know to not attempt another jump/swing maneuver at this time. But alas, he didn't as he did step one of two: jump towards his stationary opponent.

Eli knew what was going to happen and yelled _**'JAUNE!'**_

As The Ghost Rider swung his chain, Adam finished charging his attack. The sinister terrorist smirked and muttered "Moonslice."

Adam unsheathed Wilt and slashed at The Rider before the monster's attack could hit. His attack sliced through the chain of The Ghost Rider and then stuck him in the chest.

The Ghost Rider let out a pained grunt as he just fell in front Adam. The attack showed itself in form of large diagonal tear in his jacket and multiple ribs seen clearly from the tear completely obliterated. The Rider then let out one breath of air and the cinders in his eyeholes died out, before the ribs and jacket repaired themselves. Adam was about to slash him once more but stopped when he saw that wasn't then end of the changes.

The fire of The Ghost Rider died out before tissue, organs, flesh, skin and everything else grew back from the bones until an unconscious Jaune Arc was left where the out-of-control Ghost Rider once laid.

' _ **GET UP! GET UP, YOU DUMB KID!'**_ Eli screamed once more from within Jaune's mind, causing the boy to wake up with a gasp of air. Jaune laid there with his eyes closed as he caught his breath. Once he could breathe fine, he opened his eyes to see Adam Taurus pointing Wilt at his heart.

"Hey there, hot-head. Missed me?" Adam taunted with a wicked grin.

Jaune panicked within his head. 'Eli, what the hell happened?'

' _ **That rage state I warned you about happened. You fought Taurus, but he beat you.'**_ Eli said with sadness in his voice.

'I thought… I thought we could take on everything?' Jaune asked.

' _ **When we're at full strength, probably. But that rage state is only like twenty percent of our power, with none of the control to use it effectively.'**_ Eli said.

'Can you change us now? Otherwise Adam will finish us off!' Jaune pleaded.

' _ **I can't, we need a few minutes for your body to be readjust, you just took a hit that can level buildings… but I don't think you'll live long enough for that.'**_ Eli responded.

"No…" Jaune said in a faint whisper.

Adam laughed to himself. "You killed so many of my brothers and sister, all this for some maniacal bitch. Let me tell you this: I'm going to find all of your friends, I'm going to round them up, I'll slaughter them one by one in front of each other, and when I'm done… no one will stop The White Fang. All of this, because you decided to be some Spirit of Vengeance."

Adam raised his sword, ready to behead Jaune. And before either men could do something, a shotgun blast was heard then a blur of yellow and black shot towards Adam, sending him flying far away. Jaune then realized that it was Yang who just saved his sorry butt.

"So, you're The Ghost Rider?" Yang asked as she helped her friend up with her natural arm, Ember Cecelia's barrel still smoking.

"Yup." Jaune plainly said.

"Does your face melt off every time you change?" Yang asked.

"No, that was a new thing. Trust me when I say that the real thing is a sight to behold." Jaune told her.

"I'll hold you to that." Yang said. She looked over yonder to see Adam getting up. "Can you do it again?"

"Transform? I'm on a bit of a cooldown for now. And Cinder stole my sword and shield from my dead body. At the moment, I'm useless." Jaune said.

"Gotcha. Take five 'till you can jump in. For now, Adam's mine." Yang said with a tone in her voice that promised pain for Adam.

Jaune nodded. "I need him alive, he's my only lead to find Cinder."

"You don't need him in one piece then? Just enough of him to spill his guts?" Yang asked.

Jaune thought about it for barely a second before saying "Go wild." He then ran towards his car for cover as he waited for his cooldown period to end.

Yang smirked while cracking her knuckles. "This'll be good."

Adam got back on his feet and gazed over towards Yang. "Have we met before?"

"I don't know?" Yang said sarcastically as she engaged Ember Cecilia in her cyborg arm. "You look like the guy who cut off my arm at Beacon."

Adam glared under his mask. "It's you. Blake's partner."

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! You sir have just won a beat down from yours truly!" Yang said mockingly.

"I have no business with you, I just want to kill The Ghost Rider." Adam said.

"You people already killed one friend of mine and made Blake leave, I'm done letting you guys split up my friends." Yang said with strong conviction.

Adam chuckled. "Well," he drew Wilt from Blush. "I did say I'd kill his friends."

"Try me, bitch." Yang said as she got into a boxer's stance.

Adam decided to not keep up the conversation as he placed both his hands onto his Wilt's grip, sliding into the ko gasumi stance.

Yang laughed to herself. "Dude, you remind me of the chick from Kill Bill. Only without yellow. I can so pull off that look. So…" Yang then charged at Adam. "I'll take your sword after I'm done as a souvenir."

With a shotgun blast from her human arm, she launched herself forward faster than Adam expected with her cyborg arm drawn back. Adam let out a long stroke with Wilt the second Yang was close enough, two seconds after her shotgun blast. But Yang simply deflected the blade with her cyborg arm and used her momentum to knee Adam in the gut, sending him flying over ten meters away down the deserted road they were fighting on.

Not letting Adam get a moment of reprieve, Yang rocketed towards the man who landed on his feet. Without a chance to react after getting his bearings, Yang hit Adam in the face with three crosses, alternating fists all in the span of two seconds. She then performed a low spinning heel kick to sweep Adam off of his feet, immediately following with a downward elbow strike to his chest, making the man crash into the ground like a meteor.

Adam, from the ground, proceeded with a leg takedown to send Yang onto the ground with him. He didn't realize that Yang would use the momentum to her advantage by way of spinning to build up speed before she elbowed Adam in the face. His mask took most of the damage, but shattered due to the force of Yang's attack.

Adam grabbed his face and writhed on the pavement in pain as Yang jumped onto her feet. Yang brushed some dust off of her jacket and crossed her arms as she looked down at Adam. "Aww, is the little baby mad I broke his mask?" She taunted.

Adam roared in rage before he grabbed Wilt from the ground beside him and made a series of slashes towards Yang, but none hit as Yang's focus allowed her to dodge all his unfocused attacks.

With a grin a mile wide, Yang sidestepped Adam and elbowed him in the nose with her cyborg arm, breaking the cartilage. While Adam's aura fixed that, there wasn't much left as they went at it.

As the Bull Faunus got angrier, Yang's grin kept growing parallel to her confidence.

So then Adam spun around and swung his sword with the intention to decapitate Yang, but a rock hit him in the head, causing Adam to miss his attack. Yang didn't even register the swing of Adam's sword as it went too fast for her to process, so she silently thanked her friend for the assist.

He leered over to see that it was Jaune who threw it. "Annoying bastard." Adam muttered before Yang got him in the jaw with a jumping uppercut. "Right back at ya!"

Adam crashed into the ground in a heap, the taste of his own blood drowning his taste buds.

Yang leaned down and said "Do yourself a favor and stay down, okay pumpkin?" She got up and sashayed over towards Jaune's direction in victory, who was glad that Yang beat down the pain in his ass that was Adam Taurus.

' _ **Guess The Rider wasn't needed.'**_ Eli remarked.

'… I'm not complaining. At least this is over.' Jaune mentally replied.

Jaune nodded and also approached Yang with a kind smile, but movement behind her made him run and yell "BEHIND YOU!"

Yang quirked an eyebrow before turning around.

 **Shluk!**

"Huh?" Yang's vision went blurry as she felt a searing pain in her chest as her aura dissipated in one blow. She realized a moment later that she was staring into the soulless eyes of Adam Taurus, whose face was covered in his own blood from Yang's beat down. Yang looked down as her chest to see Wilt buried in it down to the guard, right through her own heart.

She looked back at Adam and weakly grabbed at the sword. Adam gave her a sinister smile as he wretched the blade, causing Yang to gasp in pain.

When Adam noticed Jaune running at him yelling at the top of his lungs, he immediately pulled Wilt from Yang's chest and aimed Blush at Jaune's head, pulling the trigger of the rifle/scabbard. A moment later Yang fell to her knees as Jaune collapsed unconscious with a bullet in his forehead, his aura tanking the shot.

Adam spit his own blood at Jaune's unconscious form and said "You brought this upon yourself. I promised that I'd make you watch, and I came through."

He sheathed Wilt and walked off with a limp, calling for pickup to a safe house as he disappeared into the sunset.

Yang still had life left in her, even if she couldn't say the same about her own blood. She painfully dragged herself towards Jaune and pulled the bullet out of his forehead.

"…w…wa…wake up." Was all Yang could muster before she fell on top of him.

A moment later she felt warm, with it leaving as quickly as it came. It took all of her willpower to open her eyes as she felt a strong grip hold her close. Yang opened her eyes to see the form of The Ghost Rider, sitting on the ground holding Yang close.

He saw Yang open her eyes and said **"I'm sorry."**

"n…not your fault." She replied weakly.

" **Yang…"** The Ghost Rider couldn't formulate a straight thought as he could only hear himself pleading in his mind **'NOT AGAIN!'**

"Jaune… get up." Yang said with what little strength she had left.

" **I can't leave you."** The Ghost Rider said.

"…taurus…" She replied.

' _ **He's getting away.'**_ Eli pointed out.

" **He can wait, I gotta get you to a hospital."** The Rider went to stand with Yang in his arms, only for Yang to grunt in pain.

' _ **Jaune, stop! She's too far gone. If you move her you'll just speed it up.'**_ Eli said.

He stopped and let her rest.

"… get him…" Yang said.

'… _ **It's her dying wish, Jaune.'**_ Eli said.

The Rider responded by pulling her close. **"… I'm not losing another friend."** He said adamantly.

But then he then felt his hellfire rise as Yang felt the last seconds of her life slip by. The Ghost Rider glowed a bright white, making a sight to be behold as the light funneled its way into Yang, causing her to glow yellow with her aura.

" **I-Is this my aura?"** The Rider asked aloud.

' _ **I thought your semblance didn't develop.'**_ Eli said.

"… **Same here."** The Ghost Rider said.

As Yang's aura reformed by using The Rider's, the hold in her chest closed up cleanly. And as Yang's wound completely disappeared, her aura ignited, causing her to be surrounded in an inferno.

As the fire didn't hurt him, The Rider only watched in shock as Yang's fire enveloped body jumped back a few meters onto her feet.

" **YANG!"** He yelled out in fear, only for the fire to subside and what stood in Yang's place made The Rider utter the most holy of remarks from his spot on the ground:

" **What. The. Hell?"**

What stood in Yang's place was a flaming skeleton with a distinctly female form, in a leather biker suit for ladies, with thick red gloves on both of her hands, a silver am guard going along her right arm, and tall boots.

The skeleton just stared at her chest for a good minute, as if something was missing, before looking back over to The Ghost Rider.

"… **Jaune?"** The female skeleton said with a voice that confirmed his suspicions.

" **Yang… you're… like me?"** The Ghost Rider said, trying to get a grip on the situation.

Yang felt up her head before yelling **"WHERE THE HELL IS MY HAIR?!"** With the fire emanating from her head skyrocketing to insane heights in response to her reaction.

The Rider simply went **"Huh… what the hell did I just do?"**

' _ **Did you… make a Ghost Rider?'**_ Eli asked.

Yang shook her head to get her bearings before asking **"Didn't I just die?"**

The Rider shrugged and answered both with **"Maybe?"**

Yang fell down onto her butt in shock. **"… Holy shit, I did die. I saw the bright light and everything! Next thing I know, I'm on fire!"**

" **A Ghost Rider."** The OG Rider said.

Yang brought up her hand and got curious as a fireball formed in her palm. She closed her grip and the fire enveloped her gloved fists in a form similar to Ember Cecilia.

She looked over to Jaune and asked **"What can I do as a Ghost Rider?"**

The Ghost Rider shook his head and got onto his feet. **"I-I… I just wanna get Taurus and sleep this bad day away. Is that cool with you?"**

Yang got onto her feet. **"I like that plan. Existentialism can wait for tomorrow. I wanna give that son of a bitch payback for killing me."**

The Rider walked over to their parked vehicles down the road by the ice cream shop. **"I don't have much time to teach you, mainly because I'm just winging it and Adam's getting away."** He said as he phased into his car right through the door.

Yang climbed onto her bike. **"Do I have to worry about my bike exploding? I'm on fire, after all."**

" **Nope, if anything it's damn near indestructible now."** The Rider stated as he started his car, with fire expelling from the tires and blower.

Yang started her bike, noticing the fire pour out of the exhaust. **"Is being a Ghost Rider always this weird?"**

" **In my time as The Ghost Rider, I can tell you that it gets weirder from here on out."** The Rider said.

" **So… I'm 'a' Ghost Rider and you're 'The' Ghost Rider, shouldn't I go with a different name? To keep things clear since you don't use your real name."** Yang asked.

"… **Sure, I guess."** The Rider said

" **If you're The Ghost Rider, call me …The Blazing Biker."** Yang said.

" **Little corny, but it'll stick."** The Ghost Rider said.

" **Puh-lease! Corny is my middle name."** The Blazing Biker remarked.

" **Alright, Yang Corny Xiao-Long, you want to hear the plan that I just made two seconds ago?"** The Rider asked.

" **Hit me."** The Biker said.

" **Adam's got a couple of safe houses in the city. I got them memorized from a file I got yesterday, so we'll hit them one by one until we get Adam. Then, we'll finish him."** The Rider said.

" **My kind of plan."** The Biker said as she revved her bike.

The Ghost Riders looked at each other in acknowledgment, with Jaune saying **"Follow my lead."**

He zoomed down the road in an instant, ready to finish this business with Adam.

The Biker followed suit a bit shakily, not expecting the speed her bike now outputted as she followed her new partner down the road…

And into a new life.


End file.
